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.Advice and Information -
Take a look at our advice article on the organisations and groups that can support you if you’re grieving.Advice and Information -
If you are experiencing or feel at risk of domestic abuse, or are worried about someone who might be, find out where you can go for advice and help.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.Advice and Information -
Many people who provide unpaid care are unaware of their rights. Find out more about the help and support you are entitled to.Advice and Information -
The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may cause you to feel worried, anxious, or scared. Read our tips to looking after your wellbeing when self-isolating.Advice and Information -
With all the changes to health and care services, it's not always clear where you should go to report an urgent issue, to make a complaint or for further information.Advice and Information -
Find out what you should do if you have symptoms of COVID-19, what local and national support is available to you and how you can help keep yourself and your loved ones safe.Advice and Information -
Find out how health services are changing in response to coronavirus (COVID-19) and what that means for your care.Advice and Information -
Find out why vaccinating yourself against COVID-19 is important, how you can get vaccinated in Lewisham, and more.Advice and Information -
The Care Act 2014 is a law that came into action in April 2015 that sets out how people’s care and support is approached by councils.Advice and Information -
The NHS in England has published a ten-year plan setting its priorities for the future.Advice and Information -
All London residents can now create a personalised care plan that works for them.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.Advice and Information -
The Lewisham Wellbeing Map is an interactive, community-led tool to help people find local locations and activities where they can connect, socialise, be active or learn in the London Borough of Lewisham.Advice and Information -
Safeguarding means protecting people’s health, wellbeing, and human rights, and enabling them to live away from harm, abuse, and neglect. It’s fundamental to high-quality health and social care.Advice and Information -
A list of information and organisations with a downloadable guide at your convenience is located below.Advice and Information -
This offers an online self-management course for African and Caribbean adults with Type 2 diabetes.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.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.
Advice and Information -
The local ICS developed a handy page where you can find out up-to-date waiting times for hospital outpatient services in south east London NHS hospitals.Advice and Information -
King's Fund developed helpful information about how GPs in England are set up and commissioned.Report -
This year we started our #30DaysofHealthwatch campaign and heard from 74 percent more people than last year.Report -
Our 2019 - 2020 Annual Report highlights our achievements as the patient voice over the last twelve months.Report -
We heard the experiences of over 900 residents during July- September. Find out what they told us about local health and care services.Report -
We developed a survey which saw over 1,000 people in June and July share their experiences about access to health and care services, their mental health and how easy it was to get information to stay safe and informed during the pandemic.Report -
We held Feedback Forums aiming to understand the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities in Lewisham during COVID-19. Carried out in June and July 2020, the four engagement sessions focused on a number of themes including access, communication and impact on mental health and emotional wellbeingReport -
At the beginning of April, following the Government's guidance regarding COVID-19, We adapted the way we engaged with residents to include collecting online reviews, virtual Feedback Forums, phone calls with Lewisham residents and directly through our Digital Feedback Centre.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 -
Last year, residents told us that under the NHS Long Term Plan they would like better access to trustworthy information about health and wellbeing issues. Find out what we learnt when we mystery shopped local libraries.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 -
Last year, Beechcroft Care Home received a "requires improvement" rating by the Care Quality Commission. The care home was also flagged up by the Lewisham Safeguarding Adults Board. Therefore, we decided to carry out an Enter and View there to gather the views of the residents and staff members.Report -
In our role as the patient voice we know that men share less feedback about health and care services than women.
We ran this project to find out how men in Lewisham look after their mental health and what stops them from speaking up about their issues.Report -
/report/2018-07-31/men-talk-healthReport -
We embarked on a project which built on our previous work, to see whether patient experience has improved following the introduction of AIS. We also assessed local implementation of the Standard.Report -
We carried out Enter and View visits at University Hospital Lewisham (UHL) to assess how the AIS has been implemented. We made two separate visits to the Accident & Emergency, Ear, Nose and Throat, Ophthalmology and Ambulatory Care departments at UHL.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.Report -
During the last year, we carried out Food for Thought - a project wanting to find out how much young people in Lewisham understood about healthy eating. Residents had told us that they felt this was a major issue for us to look into. The borough has a high proportion of children identified at risk of obesity.Report -
We visited Brymore House to talk to residents and staff about the care they received. This report contains our findings and recommendations we put to the service after our visit.Report -
Across Lewisham, there is a growing demand for residential and nursing provision for older people, as well as ‘considerate unmet need’ around carers’ provision in the borough. In light of this we embarked on a project across the London Borough of Lewisham looking into the social care needs and experiences of the population.Report -
We carried out a visit looking at the care and support provided at 55 Broadfield Road, Catford by Waterfield Supported Homes. The service provides personal care, support and accommodation for five people with mental health needs. We spoke with residents, family members and staff about their experience of the residential care home.Report -
We exist to ensure that people are at the heart of care. We listen to what people like about services, and what could be improved and we share their views with those with the power to make change happen.Report -
Find out what patients told us about their experiences of health and social care services in Lewisham during July-September. Our report covers engagement with refugees, as well as in-depth conversations about mental health.Report -
Read our summarised intelligence report which highlights the key themes from our Accessible Information Standard Report, Healthy Eating Report, Social Care Report and much much more.Report -
Through our Patient Experience Programme, Healthwatch Lewisham was able to capture 1,177 patient reviews about local health and social care services between July – September 2021. Find out about what local residents told us about the health and care they receive by reading our report.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.Report -
Healthwatch Lewisham is proud to be presenting the Quarter 4 Report. The report details the work we have done for the patient experience programme. This report is informative and gives great insight into the health and social care needs of the people within our community.Report -
HWL Patient Experience Report Q3 summarising patient experience gathered that quarter.