News and reports

Junior doctors - hospital doctors who are not consultants - are on strike this week until 7am on Saturday. Local NHS leaders have shared advice about what you should do if you need hospital care.

Our trustees meet every two months to discuss our work.

Our trustees meet every two months to discuss our work.

New research from Healthwatch England suggests it can be hard for some people to get a referral from their GP to another NHS service. One in five people they spoke to with a GP referral for specialist care had bounced back to general practice. Healthwatch England are calling for more to be done to understand people’s experience of getting a referral.

The NHS has changed its structures. Healthcare was planned by borough-level CCGs. Now these have merged into larger ICSs - SW London Healthwatches are coordinating our work to match.

New government figures show alarmingly high numbers of people are experiencing moderate to severe depression. The high cost of living is a particular issue.

The continuing cost of living crisis is adversely affecting people's physical and mental wellbeing, with vulnerable people and those on lower incomes hit the hardest. This article by Healthwatch England provides some tips.

Find out what happened at our board meeting.

The cost of living crisis can make prescriptions hard to afford. But there are ways to reduce costs. Some people can get free prescriptions. And no one needs to pay more than £11 a month.

More than 1 in 40 people have had Long Covid. Some people don't get a diagnosis, have symptoms for a long time, find it hard to get support or lose hope for the future. These resources can help.

Both recent government figures and data from Citizens Advice Sutton have made clear the links between the cost of living crisis and poor mental health.

The numbers of people ill with Covid are much lower than they were. But Long Covid remains an issue for many people.