Advice and Information -
People have told us they can have problems registering with a GP. This article explains more about your rights and what do to if you are refused the right to register.Advice and Information -
Find out what support is available to help you when travelling to your GP, hospital or other NHS services.Advice and Information -
With more and more appointments happening online, we've put together some tips on how to get the most out of the virtual health and care appointments both for patients and health and care professionals.News -
Bowel Cancer UK has launched the Colonoscopy Confidence campaign to help you understand the importance of getting your bowel checked.Advice and Information -
Find out how health services are changing in response to coronavirus (COVID-19) and what that means for your care.Report -
Get the findings from our Digital Exclusion report December 2021 in an easy-to read infographic.Report -
For this research project, we engaged with people who are more likely to be digitally excluded to gain a better understanding of how this might impact their experience with health and care services.Report -
In December 2019, we carried out three Enter and View visits at the Oakview Family Practice as we regularly receive feedback that patients in Lewisham face difficulties accessing GP appointments.Report -
Residents regularly tell us that GP appointments are difficult to access. In 2019, we carried out three visits to the GP Extended Access (GPEA) Service, which has been created to make more appointments available in Lewisham. The Enter and View visits gave us the chance to understand patients’ experiences of the service provided by One Health Lewisham and whether it was helping to improve access for residents.Report -
Through our Lewisham Independent Health Complaints Advocacy Service, we were pleased to find several local examples of good practice in the provision of the complaints information. However, the quality of the website content was inconsistent so we embarked on a project to assess the existence and standard of information on practice websites.Report -
As part of our AIS project, we engaged with 12 GP surgeries in the borough, to understand how they have complied with AIS. We chose to focus on these selected GPs as they had a high number of patients with sensory and learning disabilities.Advice and Information -
The AskFirst app supports patients to get the right healthcare they need at the right time. The app is available to all patients in Lewisham.Report -
We carried out an audit of local GP out of hours information for patients. A summary of the findings can be found by clicking here.Report -
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way people access their GP with the further development of remote triage and booking systems. Service delivery in primary care continues to undergo changes and Healthwatch Lewisham wanted to understand what residents’ experiences have been like of since the national lockdown restrictions were lifted on 19 July 2021.Advice and Information -
‘Because We All Care’ encourages more people to feedback on their care. The next phase of our joint campaign with CQC is planned to start at the end of August. The phase will target people with long term conditions, and we will be taking a specific look at the barriers people face to getting specialist support via their GPs.
Organisations such as ours are aware this has been going on for way too long.News -
As fears of Polio have returned to the UK, it is more important than ever to ensure that your child is protected.Advice and Information -
Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) are generally made up of a group of volunteer patients, the practice manager and one or more of the GPs from the practice. Each GP Practice is required to have a PPG.
News -
Your primary care team is part of a wide network of practitioners and specialists dedicated to ensuring you receive the best care possible.
Advice and Information -
King's Fund developed helpful information about how GPs in England are set up and commissioned.Advice and Information -
An interactive Wellbeing Map packed with local activities, events and locations in South East London has been produced.
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Take simple steps to improve and promote good mental health and wellbeing.Advice and Information -
The best way to help protect your child against severe illness from polio, flu, measles, mumps, rubella, and other childhood diseases is to get them up to date with their routine vaccinations.
If you or your child are not registered with a GP, they can still get free vaccinations – contact a GP surgery.
Advice and Information -
Do you #KnowTheHigh5 symptoms of bowel cancer?
Advice and Information -
We are inviting feedback from Lewisham residents about their experience of GPs, Pharmacies, and local Hospitals.News -
If you live in Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham or Southwark NHS South East London would like to hear from you.News -
May Bank holiday and Industrial action – how to get the help you needNews -
NHS South East London would like to invite you to join a webinar about the Joint Forward Plan (JFP).Report -
Healthwatch Lewisham is proud to be presenting the Quarter 3 Report from 2022-2023. The report is a general overview of the work we have done for the Patient Experience programme, within the last three months and gives great insight into the health and social care needs of the people within our community.News -
The NHS Assembly has launched a call for views about the NHS.News -
Have you visited hospitals or community services recently?News -
This pilot course has been co-produced with Black people with lived experience, their carers/supporters, mental health staff, and researchers.News -
St John Ambulance will be delivering free British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreted First Aid awareness demonstrations on how to apply bandages, perform CPR and use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) as part of Lewisham Fire Station's Deaf Open Day.News -
Share your patient story and help drive improvements in Lewisham Emergency DepartmentNews -
Can you help develop a smartphone app to track heart health?Report -
Healthwatch Lewisham Annual Report 2022-2023.Advice and Information -
Phoenix Community Housing are hosting a free Health and Wellbeing fair, with access to health and wellbeing advice, careers support, fitness information, wellbeing activities and more! Healthwatch Lewisham will also be there on the day with an information stall.Report -
We engaged with 640 Lewisham residents between January and March 2023 to understand what they felt worked well and what could be improved about their health and social care services.
This is what they told us.News -
We are recruiting for a Project Officer. This is a community and office-based role, encompassing both face-to-face community engagement and outreach elements, alongside office-based aspects.News -
Free health checks and support from NHS & community groups
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From April to June 2023, Healthwatch Lewisham compiled over 1,000 reviews on patient experiences in GPs, hospitals, and other health services. Lewisham residents responded to how they were treated by hospital staff, quality of treatment, and appointment availability.Report -
From July – September 2023, Healthwatch Lewisham has compiled over 1,000 reviews of and conducted over 40 visits to local healthcare services. Lewisham residents responded to how they were treated by hospital staff, quality of treatment, and appointment availabilityReport -
We have been working on a report into the health experiences of transgender and non-binary people in Lewisham. In this report we dive into their experiences, to find out how services can be made better.Report -
Each quarter, we publish the experiences of patients that we have gathered. This helps us to see trends in care compared to previous months.
We have seen an increase in the percentage of people sharing positive feedback about GPs in the Borough and, in a similar trend, the feedback on hospital services is more positive at the end of the year than the start of the year.
The experience of Dental services is also more positive at the end of the year, albeit dropping slightly from a high in Q3.
Positive experiences of pharmacy services have increased significantly, by 20% over the course of the year, experiencing quarter upon quarter improvement and, although lower in number, Optician service feedback has increased to 80% positive feedback.
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We are recruiting for a new Patient Experience Officer to support the Borough of Lewisham 21 hours a week. Application deadline: 30th September 2024Report -
Each quarter, we publish the experiences of patients that we have gathered. This helps us to see trends in care compared to previous months.
In this quarter, we spoke to about 1,000 people in our borough at Hospitals, GP services, pharmacies, and more.Advice and Information -
Do you struggle to speak to your doctor about your medical concerns? You’re not alone. Take a look at our top tips to make the most out of your GP appointment.Advice and Information -
Waiting for planned medical care or surgery can be a frustrating time. That’s why it’s so important that while you wait, you get regular, clear and accessible updates so that you can plan your next steps.