What we've heard in July

Healthwatch Hampshire
1 day ago
3 min read

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 11 pieces of feedback.

The most frequent providers all head 6 mentions; Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Southampton General Hospital and Westacre Care Home.

Westacre Care Home was where we did an Enter and View visit in July, which is why we recorded people's experiences. There will be a full report on this visit coming up soon.

Can dental practices make you register privately so that your child can be registered on the NHS?

No, it is a breach of their contract to do this. We recieved this feedback from a Hampshire resident recently:

“ My daughter, 3 years old, receives free [dental] care under the NHS. I am serving in the armed forces, so already receive free dental care, however this dentist insisted that I had to register in order to register my daughter (and it took about 18 months wait to find a dentist with space for her). I now have to pay for yearly check ups that I do not need in order to keep my daughter registered. This seems unreasonable, unnecessary, and unethical"

Research that Healthwatch England did in 2024 showed similar findings to this experience and highlighted that it is a breach of their contract.

If this has happened to you, you can contact the practice manager at the dental practice to try to resolve this or make a formal complaint with them. Please also get in contact with us to let us know your experience.

What we've heard about men's health

A lot of what we heard about GP surgeries was from when our engagement officer Sayda attended Underhill Men's Shed group this month, where men gather together to reduce loneliness and connect with each other.

23 men over the age of 40 completed the questionnaire we gave out and we found that 11 of them haven't been invited for the 40+ health check by their GP.

If you are 40+ without a pre existing condition, you should be invited for a health check every 5 years (this applies to all genders.

MenB vaccinations for people going to university

We heard from someone who was unable to get a MenB vaccination due to their age not being in the required category, even though they were going to university in Autumn. There has since been an update on MenB vaccinations for people going to university.

You can have free MenB vaccinations if you were:

born between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2008 or
born on or after 21 July 2001 and starting university for the first time in autumn or
born on or after 21 July 2001 and starting some residential further education colleges for the first time in autumn 2026 as a residential student

Where we've been in July

Lucy has started engagement with online groups across Hampshire, so if you know of a community group that meets online please get in touch so Lucy can come along and speak to people about their experiences of health and social care. This month she joined a group of people from the Hampshire Learning Disability Partnership to hear what they had to say.

Sayda has also been out and about at lots of other groups to meet the community and gather your feedback.

New Frimley Hospital Engagement
Men's Shed
Coffee mornings
Foodbank and community hub in Aldershot
Co-occurring Conditions Service User Forum
South West Hants VS Health & Wellbeing Forum Networking and Showcase Event

Frimley hospital engagement

There are plans for a new Frimley Park Hospital and they are gathering people's views to shape how it goes ahead. We are visiting some groups in North East Hampshire to support people to share their views who may not engage with the online survey. When Sayda spoke to people in the Nepalese community at the Community Grub Hub last week, she found that many people were not aware of the new hospital plans at all.

Share your thoughts here