All posts

We visited Westacre Nursing Home in Winchester on 16 July 2026. Westacre Nursing Home provides nursing care for older people and others with complex care needs, including people living with dementia and delirium. At the time of our visit, the home was supporting 42 residents and was focused on providing person-centred care in a safe and supportive environment. The Enter and View Programme Enter and View visits are part of Healthwatch Hampshire's statutory role. They allow

Our engagement officer Sayda attended University of Winchester's Men’s Health Conference on Understanding and Improving Men’s Health in Hampshire. We were invited to join University of Winchester’s first Men’s Health Conference, “Understanding and Improving Men’s Health in Hampshire”, which took place last Friday. The event began with a keynote speech from Simon Bryant (Director of Public Health, Winchester City Council), highlighting the importance of a systems approach to

Read the Healthwatch Hampshire manager's report from the Advisory Board meeting on 9th September 2026.

If you or someone you know has struggled with alcohol or drug misuse, we want to hear from you. We are trying to understand how people in Hampshire access support and treatment for substance misuse and if the care they receive is meeting people's needs. Research shows that mental health conditions and addiction share overlapping brain circuits and genetic vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is unsurprising that 74% of adults starting treatment for substance misuse said they had a

186 of you shared your experience with us in August The feedback was made up of: 158 complaints 28 compliments The most common service was General Practice which was mentioned 67 times, followed by Pharmacy 12 times and then tied 3rd place with 11 mentions were hospital patients. Services people talked about most You mentioned General Practice 67 times, with "accessibility and reasonable adjustments" mentioned 12 times and "remote appointments and digital services" mentioned

A Hampshire resident spoke to us about how when a reasonable adjustment is ignored, it can actually create more disability than if no adjustment had been offered at all. Read her experience of contacting the GP to seek medical advice: I am an autistic adult and because of differences in working memory, processing speed and communication under pressure, I find it much easier to communicate complex medical information in writing. My GP medical record explicitly record my comm

We will be running regular online Community Conversations to hear directly from people about their experiences of health and social care services. These sessions are held online via Microsoft Teams and are open to anyone living in Hampshire. They provide an opportunity to share views, discuss experiences, and help highlight what is working well and what could be improved in local services. The sessions will not be presentations, they are led by you and will be informal, frien

Join our next Advisory Board meeting! Everyone is welcome. Date: Tuesday 9th September 2026 Time: 10am - 12:30pm Location: Brockenhurst Village Hall - The Meeting Room, Highwood Rd, Brockenhurst SO42 7RY. You can register your car upon arrival for free parking. or join online: Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/31635795568048?p=uyfVXjci2vq59pueUP Meeting ID: 316 357 955 680 48 Passcode: sh7vm7ax What does the Advisory Board do? Our Advisory Board

We have found that the Discharge Lounge at Queen Alexandra Hospital was managed by an experienced team and there was clear evidence of strong coordination to support patient flow and discharge arrangements. At the same time, the visit identified a number of opportunities to improve the environment, patient information, accessibility, and the overall waiting experience. A team from Healthwatch Portsmouth and Healthwatch Hampshire visited Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth to

Need a pharmacy over the bank holiday weekend? Check here for details of opening times.

We received 114 items of feedback in July. The feedback was made up of: 99 complaints 15 compliments The most common service was General Practice which was mentioned 29 times, followed by Dentistry 12 times and then general outpatients and hospital based consultants 11 times. Quality of treatment was the most frequent theme of feedback, with 32 pieces of feedback. Access to services was the second most common theme with 18 pieces of feedback, then booking appointments with

77 of you shared your experiences of health and social care with us in June. 61 were complaints and concerns, 13 were compliments and 3 were requests for information. Your feedback is vital to help us understand what is working well and where services could improve for people across Hampshire. Services people talked about most You mentioned General Practice 25 times, with feedback focused mainly on booking appointments, quality of treatment and waiting lists. We also heard

Following our What Matters Most survey, we have created our workplan for the year 2026/2027. As the independent champion of health and social care services in Hampshire, we look into services and hear from the people who use them. Read our plans for the next year. We would like to thank everyone who takes the time to complete our survey which help us to decide what we will concentrate on over the next 12 month period.

The four Healthwatch branches in Hampshire and Isle of Wight have come together to share what local people have told us about their experiences of mental health services across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Based on feedback gathered between July and December 2025, this report highlights the challenges people face in accessing timely and appropriate support, including long waiting times, difficulties navigating services, and barriers to early intervention. It also recogn

We are pleased to publish our annual report for 2025/26. Find out what we have been working on and our achievements over the last year. As your local health and social care champion, we’ve spent the past year making sure that the voices of local people are heard by those who commission, deliver and make decisions about services. We share your feedback with the right people so it can make a difference, improving health and social care for the whole community. Our year

On Tuesday Healthwatch Area Director for Hampshire and Portsmouth presented the Manager report to the Advisory Board meeting at Andover Community Church

The NHS is seeking people’s views and experiences to help shape how urgent care services such as GP out-of-hours services, night nursing services and urgent treatment centres are delivered. Urgent care services provide medical help when it is needed quickly but is not life-threatening, offering an alternative to attending emergency departments. The NHS is seeking people’s views and experiences to help shape how urgent care services such as GP out-of-hours services, night nu

This insight article sets out what the Accessible Information Standard is and why it matters for people using health and social care services. In 2024, Healthwatch Hampshire, Healthwatch Isle of Wight, Healthwatch Portsmouth and Healthwatch Southampton collaborated on a report about the Accessible Information Standard titled Do people get the information they need in the way they need it? The report provided a comprehensive review of how the Accessible Information Standard h

This week is Dementia Action Week, and an opportunity to continue raising awareness of dementia, the UK’s biggest killer (1). What is dementia? Dementia is a group of symptoms. It’s caused by different diseases that damage the brain. Dementia is progressive; the symptoms get worse over time and include: memory loss confusion and needing help with daily tasks problems with language and understanding changes in behaviour There are many types of dementia, but Alzheimer’s

Need a pharmacy over the bank holiday weekend? Check here for details of opening times.