Who we are
Healthwatch Southwark gathers and champions the views of local users of health and social care services, in order to identify opportunities for improvement and to influence how providers deliver care.
There is a Healthwatch in every area of England, and an umbrella body - Healthwatch England. Healthwatch is a statutory function funded by, but independent from, local authorities.
Healthwatch Southwark is hosted by Community Southwark, a charity which works with the local voluntary and community sector.
What we do
- We listen to your experiences of health and care services in order to drive improvements.
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We provide information and signposting on local health and care services.
- We promote and support the involvement of patients and service users in the design, provision and scrutiny of local health and care services.
- We voice the views and concerns of local people in order to make health and social care services better.
How we do this
- We keep people informed through our website and ebulletins.
- We use a wide variety of tools (such as surveys, interviews, focus groups and events) to make it as easy as possible for you to have a say.
- We use our power to ‘Enter and View’ services to find out what it’s like for people using them.
- We work with local voluntary and community organisations in order to reach more people and to highlight inequalities.
- We produce reports and recommendations based on the evidence and insights you share.
- We use our seats on important decision making boards and committees to make sure your voice is heard at the top.
- We input into local consultations and monitoring systems, such as our three hospital trusts’ annual Quality Accounts.
- We share information and concerns with Healthwatch England (HWE) so that we can have an impact at a national level.
- We also work with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which is the national inspector and regulator for health and social care services.
Find out more about our core activities
