1. Westgate House Care Centre Visits

    Report -

    The reports from our visits to Westgate Care Centre, Ware as requested by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) and East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (ENHCCG).

  2. Healthwatch Board Meeting in Public - 19th February 2018

    Report -

    Read more about our February 2018 Board meeting in public.

  3. #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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. Healthwatch General Board Meeting in Public - 6th April 2018

    Report -

    Read more about our April 2018 General Board meeting in public.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. Privacy Statement

    Report -

    This Privacy Statement outlines our data processing practices when we are carrying out our role as the local independent champion for people who use health and social care services.

  12. Visits to dental practices in the East Hertfordshire District

    Report -

    The reports from 6 dental practices we visited using our legal power to Enter and View.

  13. 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.

  14. Healthwatch Board Meeting in Public - 21st May 2018

    Report -

    Read more about our May 2018 Board meeting in public.

  15. Healthwatch Board Annual General Meeting - 28th June 2018

    Report -

    Read more about our AGM where the members approve the accounts and elect the trustees new to the Board, or conduct a re-election where a member’s term has reached three years.

  16. #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.

  17. Healthwatch Hertfordshire - Our Annual Report for 2017/18

    Report -

    It is Annual Report time, and a chance to reflect on another positive and achieving year. This report portrays an exciting picture of the wide range of activities and achievements over the last 12 months.

  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. Healthwatch General Board Meeting in Public followed by Healthwatch Board Meeting in Public - 20th August 2018

    Report -

    Read more about our August 2018 Board meeting in public.

  20. Report into Complaints Handling at West Herts Hospital Trust 2018

    Report -

    West Herts Hospital Trust asked us to repeat a qualitative review of their final response letters to complainants. This was to assess what improvements had been in response to our previous recommendations. Read more here.

  21. Stockwell Lodge Medical Centre - Helping to Improve Access and The Patient Experience

    Report -

    Following a recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which rated Stockwell Lodge Medical Centre as ‘inadequate’, we were asked by NHS commissioners to work with them and the Practice to help improve its rating and service.

  22. 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.

  23. 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.

  24. Visits to dental practices in the Stevenage District

    Report -

    The reports from 4 dental practices we visited using our legal power to Enter and View.

  25. 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.

  26. 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.

  27. Sharing your experiences of Community and Enablement Services

    News -

    Healthwatch Hertfordshire has been working with Newton Europe to ensure service user experiences fed into their work on improving community and acute services.

  28. Dorothy Hosein named as Interim Chief Executive

    News -

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

  29. Healthwatch Board Meeting in Public - 19th November 2018

    Report -

    Read more about our November 2018 Board meeting in public.

  30. 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.

  31. 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).

  32. Upcoming Mental Health Project

    News -

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

  33. Hertfordshire Transgender Update

    News -

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

  34. 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.

  35. Winter Pressures

    Advice and Information -

    Though winter is often thought of as a cheerful time of festivity and family, the colder months can exacerbate some of the daily challenges of later life, from isolation to fuel poverty.

  36. 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.

  37. 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.

  38. 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.

  39. 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.

  40. Where can I go to get help for my health out of hours?

    Advice and Information -

    Health issues unfortunately don't leave us alone at the weekend and people are often in need of medical assistance out of hours. Using NHS guidelines, we have provided some advice and information on where you can go for help when your GP is closed.