1. Top Marks for local Dementia Support Services

    News -

    A report released this week by Healthwatch Hertfordshire shows the outstanding phone support being given for people living with dementia, and their families, within the county.

  2. Thank you Volunteers

    News -

    The year is now drawing to a close and it’s time to reflect on the achievements of our volunteers over the year.

  3. Healthwatch England’s Annual Report to Parliament

    News -

    People’s real life experiences of the NHS and Social Care are set out by Sir Robert Francis, Chair of Healthwatch England in a new report to Parliament.

  4. Volunteer Training Programme

    News -

    New ways of working and a new team structure in the office brings new opportunities for our volunteers and a training programme to support them.

  5. New Trust Chief Executive ‘returns’ to her home town and county

    News -

    Christine Allen has been appointed as Chief Executive of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Born in Watford she is a high achiever with an impressive track record as a leader in the NHS.

  6. 2018 - End of Year Messages

    News -

    The news has tended to be dominated by non-health issues over the past few weeks. Here at Healthwatch we have however been keeping our eyes on the health and social care world and there is a lot happening.

  7. Upcoming Mental Health Project

    News -

    We will be launching a new project looking at inpatient mental health discharge soon.

  8. Hertfordshire Transgender Update

    News -

    Nearly £5,000 has been raised to support the work of the Hertfordshire Transgender Implementation Group.

  9. National Survey highlights decline in people’s experiences of community mental health services

    News -

    People’s experiences of the care they receive from community-based mental health services have continued to deteriorate, according to an annual survey from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

  10. Feeling Good Week 2019

    News -

    Feeling Good Week is a Hertfordshire-wide event that encourages schools and the wider community to promote children and young people’s emotional wellbeing by raising awareness of mental health and showing where community support can be accessed.

  11. Dorothy Hosein named as Interim Chief Executive

    News -

    Ambulance bosses have announced today that Dorothy Hosein has joined the service as interim CEO.

  12. Taking Stock Week

    News -

    This September, Healthwatch Hertfordshire’s senior executive team have been taking stock of our services, priorities, ways of working and where we can make most impact.

  13. NHS Long Term Plan: Get Involved

    News -

    The Government is investing an extra £20bn a year in the NHS as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. Now you can help your local NHS invest in the right support by sharing your ideas with us.

  14. #WhatWouldYouDo

    News -

    Healthwatch England have produced a lovely bit of animation quickly summing up the importance of staying engaged. This is the beginning of a new campaign to find out exactly what kind of changes the public would make to help improve the NHS.

  15. National Award Nomination

    News -

    This year we are happy to announce that once again we were shortlisted for one of the prestigious Healthwatch England Network Awards.

  16. Inaugural Trans Awareness Black Tie Dinner

    News -

    Steve Palmer and Paul Regan recently attended The Inaugural Trans Awareness Black Tie Dinner at the Priory in Hitchin.

  17. Hertswise Telephone Mystery Shopping Project

    News -

    For 3 weeks at the end of June into July when we basked in a long hot summer, a number of our volunteers were busy completing mystery shopping telephone calls to Herts Help to test out the triaging system for the AGE UK Hertswise Dementia Services.

  18. Flying the Flag for our Volunteers – Healthwatch East of England Regional Conference

    News -

    Several members of our team recently attended the Healthwatch East of England Regional Conference. The event provided an opportunity to network and chat with team members from other Healthwatch in the region.

  19. #ItStartsWithYou

    News -

    #ItStartsWithYou campaign launches in Hertfordshire with three stories. Healthwatch Hertfordshire today launches a campaign to encourage people across the country to share their experiences to help make health and care better for their community.

  20. Princess Alexandra Hospital Trials Volunteer-only PLACE audits

    News -

    The Princess Alexandra Hospital) in Harlow serves our East Herts residents. Last October they invited our Enter and View team into the hospital to carry out a visit and this year they invited us back to see how the environment has changed.

  21. Restart a Heart Day – Oct 16th

    News -

    Our friends at the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) are urging secondary schools to sign up to a lifesaving lesson this autumn.

  22. Volunteer Week 1st - 7th June 2018

    News -

    It’s that time of year again: National Volunteers Week. Organisations across the UK will be taking this opportunity to thank the many volunteers that make such great contributions to their work.

  23. Quality Accounts 2018

    News -

    A range of health services recently published their Annual Quality Accounts and these were scrutinised by the Health Scrutiny Committee on Thursday 15th March.

  24. Patient Denied MMR Vaccination

    News -

    Following a phone call from a member of the public, Healthwatch Hertfordshire were surprised to learn that a GP surgery was denying the MMR vaccination to an adult who had not yet received it.

  25. National No Smoking Day

    News -

    Herts County Council have asked us to share some great news! Smoking in Hertfordshire declines as e-cigarette popularity grows.

  26. Enter and View: Lister Hospital

    News -

    Another day, another fantastic Enter & View visit. On Wednesday the 7th March a team of Enter and View volunteers were at the Lister Hospital checking out patient experience.

  27. #TeamHerts: Royston Volunteer Fair

    News -


    Healthwatch Hertfordshire recently attended a Volunteer Fair in Royston organised by #TeamHerts a countywide Hertfordshire service providing information for individuals who want to volunteer and charities that want to recruit.

  28. 5th December: International Volunteer Day

    News -

    Our Quality Improvement Sub-Committee (QISC) Away Day was by coincidence held on International Volunteer Day. It gave us a greater opportunity to celebrate our volunteers, and all the good work they have done for the organisation over the past year.

  29. New Board Members and Recruitment in the New Year

    News -

    We are delighted to announce that at the Healthwatch Annual General Meeting held on 20th November four new Trustees were appointed to our Board.

  30. Mental Health Service Watch Group

    News -

    Our work on Mental Health remains a Healthwatch Hertfordshire priority, but following much discussion and a consultation, our Mental health Service Watch group has decided that there are more effective ways of engaging on the subject.

  31. Volunteer Induction

    News -

    We had our second induction session for new volunteers on Tuesday 24th October. Led by Priya, it was a half-day event, attended by a small group of interested volunteers.

  32. Healthwatch England Launch Annual Report to Parliament

    News -

    Over the last year Healthwatch has heard from 341,000 people, carers and staff, all of whom have given their time to share their experiences of health and social care services.

  33. CQC Publish 359 Reports

    News -

    In the past week, the Care Quality Commission has published 359 reports on services which have been inspected by specialist teams of inspectors.

  34. Event: #TeamHerts

    News -

    On the 20th September Jane and Alice attended a really positive #TeamHerts Volunteers’ Event at Ware Priory.

  35. Enter & View: Princess Alexandra Hospital

    News -

    Our Enter and View volunteers also known as Authorised Representatives have been busy doing visits at the Princess Alexandra (PAH) Hospital in Harlow this month.

  36. Enter & View: Specialised Training Now Available

    News -

    To improve our important Enter and View Programme we recently developed and launched accessible training for people with learning disabilities.

  37. Healthwatch Hertfordshire Annual General Meeting 2017

    News -

    On Friday the 12th October Michael Downing our Chairman opened our 2017 Annual General Meeting.

  38. Hatfield Healthfest and Beyond!

    News -

    We attended Hatfield Healthfest on Saturday 23rd September which gave us a great opportunity to get out and talk to people in the community.

  39. Consultation: Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2018

    News -

    Hertfordshire County Council have asked us to let you know about a current consultation: The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2018.

  40. East of England Ambulance Service to provide non-emergency transport Service

    News -

    The East of England Ambulance has been awarded a caretaker contract to provide non-emergency patient transport in Bedfordshire, Luton and Hertfordshire.

  41. PLACE 2017: What Our Volunteers Did

    News -

    Find out what our volunteers reported when they visited four sites in Hertfordshire this year to assess non-clinical services on behalf of Healthwatch Hertfordshire.

  42. NHS Consultation: Last Chance!

    News -

    There’s not long left until this important consultation closes! Although there has been a good response rate so far, there are still many of you who haven’t shared your views yet.

  43. Herts Aid Football Tournament

    News -

    At the end of July Paul and Alice were lucky enough to be able to attend the Herts Aid Football Football Tournament Cup.

  44. Dental Project: What Our Volunteers Did

    News -

    Healthwatch Volunteers involved in reviewing access to NHS Dental Health Services in Hertfordshire.

  45. #TeamHerts

    News -

    We have recently collaborated with #TeamHerts to promote our new and existing volunteering opportunities.

  46. Volunteer Induction

    News -

    Our first Volunteer Induction Session, following the recent launch of some exciting new volunteer roles, took place on 18th July at the Focolare Centre in Welwyn Garden City.

  47. New Volunteer Roles

    News -

    Read about some exciting developments to our volunteer programme.

  48. National Volunteer Week – A Celebration

    News -

    To coincide with National Volunteer Week 2017 Healthwatch Hertfordshire invited their 50+ volunteers to a celebration event in Welwyn Garden City on a very wet Tuesday on 6th June.

  49. National Volunteers’ Week 1 – 7 June 2017: Valuing our Volunteers

    News -

    Healthwatch Hertfordshire values the work of its Volunteers and on 6th June we are holding a celebration event in Welwyn Garden City.

  50. Dental Report valued by NHS England

    News -

    Our report, “Access to NHS Dental Services in Hertfordshire 2016”, has been welcomed by the NHS England dental team after recently being passed on by the Hertfordshire County Council Health Scrutiny Board.