News and reports

Sexual health services offer a range of services, including: testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), advice and information about sexual health, free condoms and other contraception – including emergency contraception, such as the morning after pill.

Many people are not aware that there is no centralised patient medical record. Records are held by the GP and by other groups (hospitals, care homes, clinics etc).

Non-GP records are only incorporated into the GP record if they are sent to the GP by the other source. This is sometimes done automatically, but often is not.

Understanding who local commissioners are and how they work can sometimes feel confusing. Healthwatch Surrey are here to help explain the role of local commissioners in health and social care, and how they make decisions and plan services to meet the needs of people in our communities.

Multiple online directories are available to help you find trusted information and local services to support your health, care and wellbeing.

Clear, timely and transparent communication makes a big difference to how patients experience their GP practice. Our guides and toolkits offer practical advice to help practices engage effectively with patients.

In light of the government’s proposals to abolish local Healthwatch and therefore remove the only collective, independent and statutory opportunity for the public to hold the NHS and social care system to account, local Healthwatch have put together a petition to protect the independent voice. This calls on the government to review the decision to abolish independent local Healthwatch. We ask for your support in signing it.

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

Research from the Kings Fund and Healthwatch England have both looked at finance and it's impact on health - but we wanted to find out the impact financial concerns and constraints have on people’s emotional wellbeing.

The latest Sexual Health Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for Surrey highlights a need to improve engagement and understanding of sexual health & contraception needs in younger people. Against this backdrop and in discussion with Public Health, Healthwatch Surrey (who has been part of the Surrey Sexual Health Outreach Group since 2019) wanted to amplify the voice of under 25s in relation to sexual health services in Surrey.

Our latest Insight bulletin highlights the key themes we’ve been hearing about recently from local people. We also highlight our latest news and opportunities to get involved.

This report highlights our major impacts throughout our first quarter of 2025/26 (April to June 2025). This quarter 989 people shared their experiences with us.

This report explores 6 students’ understanding and awareness of mental health services.