News and reports

In the recent report by Healthwatch England, The King's Fund and National Voices - two thirds of patients and carers experience NHS admin problems.

In the recent report by Healthwatch England, The King's Fund and National Voices - two thirds of patients and carers experience NHS admin problems.

The publication of “The future of patient voice: learning from the Healthwatch model” by The King’s Fund provides an important and timely assessment of how people and communities are heard across health and care. What do the key factors they raise mean for the future? We ask some questions based on their findings.

Today’s King’s Fund Report “The Future of Patient Voice; Learning from the Healthwatch Model” underlines that a key strength of Healthwatch is its independence of the system, giving it credibility with the public.

Organisations delivering local Healthwatch have warned that the Government’s Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA) for the NHS 10 Year Health Plan fails to fully consider the impact of losing independent patient voice and scrutiny, as required under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

Does AI (artifical intelligence) live up to its aspirations to help patients better navigate the health service, end the need for tasks like clinical note taking and free up clinicians ‘to better engage with patients?

What have people been telling Healthwatch England about weight management drugs - want to have your say in Surrey? Please share your views with us.

We are pleased to bring you our most recent edition of our public newsletter - keeping you informed of our latest work.

We are calling for ongoing public support as the national petition challenging government plans to abolish local Healthwatch services surpasses 10,000 signatures — the threshold that requires a formal government response.

New research from Healthwatch England has found that one in five men are now using platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube - and almost one in 10 are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots - for information on staying healthy.

Some recent research by the Nuffield Trust highlights what we have been hearing about NHS CHC funding - that the process is confusing and sometimes hard for individuals to go through. We have provided some information and advice to help with this, including a video by someone with lived experience.

If you are between 40 and 74 - do you know about NHS Health Checks - would you attend them if invited? A recent report by Healthwatch England shows that men are willing to attend for certain screening if invited.