Self Care Week is an annual national awareness week that focuses on providing support for self care across communities and families. It will be running again this year from 18-24th November 2019.

Healthwatch have decided that this year we will be focusing on Diabetes Type 2 Awareness. Providing information to people about this subject and encouraging them to make a change. You can find us at various events this week providing this information to members of the public. Please see our events page for more information.

Flu vaccination is available every year on the NHS to help protect adults and children at risk of flu and its complications.

Flu can be unpleasant, but if you're otherwise healthy, it'll usually clear up on its own within a week.

But flu can be more severe in certain people, such as:

• anyone aged 65 and over
• pregnant women
• children and adults with an underlying health condition (such as long-term heart or respiratory disease)
• children and adults with weakened immune systems

Anyone in these risk groups is more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia (a lung infection), so it's recommended that they have a flu vaccine every year to help protect them.

For more information about the flu vaccine, please click here.

One of our responsibilities is to visit health and care facilities and speak to patients and staff about their experiences of the care and services they receive or provide. 

We will be out and about in the community over the next couple of months encouraging people to share their views as a patient, more specifically on the GP appointment system and their experiences of it. The survey only takes about 5 minutes to complete and the information you give us  is anonymous but will help us to build a picture of the practices for us to share with them along with recommendations as to how the services can be improved and to share good practice with them. 

Click here to take the online survey

The practice has started a virtual  PPG forum, which is due to launch later this month. The Virtual PPG has developed based on email networks and social media to enable the group to reach out to the wider diverse population. This will ensure engagement with all sections of the population including those from minority communities and those that are seldom heard.

Click here to find out more about the role of a PPG and how you can join!

Here at Healthwatch, we want to hear about all experiences, whether they're good, bad or somewhere inbetween. It's no secret that compliments are just as important as complaints and highlighting what services are doing well is so important. That way, they can do more of it! Anything you have to say, no matter how small, could make a big difference. Your voice really does count. Our local NHS services need your help. Maybe a nurse gave you some reassurance when you felt anxious? Maybe a dentist made you smile? These dedicated members of staff deserve some recognition for going the extra mile. 

Please get in touch and share your experiences with us. You can do this via twitter, facebook, email, telephone, or in person!

Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion created to gather and represent the views of the public.

Healthwatch works at both the national and local level and makes sure the views of the public and people who use services are taken into account by providers. 

We gather your views and experiences about local healthcare and use them to show services what they are doing well and where they could improve.