News and reports

Most men would attend testing if the government introduced a national screening programme for prostate cancer, according to new research from Healthwatch England.

We have published our latest patient experience reports ending 30th September 2025.

This quarterly report is based on the experience of 452 people.
Overall satisfaction is 77% positive.

The NHS is setting up an online hospital called NHS Online in a significant reform to the way healthcare is delivered in England.

Patients with a potentially deadly illness will be diagnosed sooner thanks to this new life-saving patient safety initiative. that was rolled out nationwide on 23rd September 2025 to prevent avoidable deaths. GPs across England to take ‘3 strikes and rethink approach’ after 3 appointments.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) confirms taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe and there is no evidence it causes autism in children.

Healthwatch England's new research shows that too many men are missing out on the NHS Health Check, which is essential in preventing illness and saving lives.

Our complaints process outlines how to make a complaint about us and our approach to making sure complaints are resolved.

From 1 September 2025, a new partnership is responsible for Healthwatch Hammersmith and Fulham This partnership brings together the deep local knowledge and community connections of Sobus, W12 Together and the Healthwatch delivery expertise of Local Voice.

Healthwatch is a statutory service established by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to understand the needs, experiences and concerns of people who use local health and social care services.
We are funded by the Local Authority (Council).
We are the independent voice for people who use NHS and publicly funded health and care services in Hammersmith and Fulham. Our research and local engagement puts local people at the heart of care and decision making about health and social care, to ensure that services are fit-for-purpose now and in future.

Our work deliverables are designed to improve outcomes that can be utilised to drive influence and ultimately widen our impact. We act as an independent trusted body for local people to share their experiences and continue to raise the profile of patient voice through our findings and feed into the conversations that result in change. We publish public facing reports with clear, meaningful recommendations, which are vital to achieving impact for Healthwatch. Throughout the duration of the YVHSC contract, we have remained committed to making meaningful contributions by aligning our work with the borough's priorities, ensuring our efforts are purposefully designed to benefit the local community.

A report published by the Care Quality Commission in 2023 revealed that nearly half of the maternity services in the UK were rated as either 'needs improvement' or 'inadequate'. As community advocates, we sought to explore whether these negative ratings disproportionately impact women from minority ethnic groups in their maternity care experiences.​