Who we are
Healthwatch Southwark is part of Community Southwark, a charity which works with the local voluntary and community sector.
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.
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 listen to Southwark residents about your needs, and your experiences of health and social 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.
