News and reports

The government's Tobacco and Vapes Bill promises to create a "smoke-free generation", but can more be done to educate young people on the risks of smoking and vaping?

Get involved in a national week of action to help more people have a stronger voice in their care.

Every winter, the NHS is under pressure to free up beds. However, getting hospital discharge wrong can harm both patients and services. We look at what people have told us about leaving hospital, and the lessons the NHS can learn to improve the support patients get.

Using your feedback, find out the top three priorities we've told the Government the NHS should focus on this year.

This winter, NHS hospitals and emergency services are under severe pressure. We examine the impact this has on patients and explore steps that could help prevent future problems.

Making a complaint is a right enshrined in the NHS Constitution. Yet, our research found a number of barriers that prevented people from making a complaint about their healthcare.

We organised a joint follow-up Enter & View visit to The Royal Stoke University Hospital Maternity Services with Healthwatch Staffordshire on 16 October 2024. Read all about our joint visit in this report which includes a background and our purpose for the visit, the methodology utilised, an outline of our findings and our recommendations.

People consistently tell us how they struggle to get NHS dental care.

Annette's is one such story. She faced hard decisions about her dental care, and her experience highlights why fundamental reform of NHS dentistry is needed to make it more accessible and affordable.

Smokers and vape users can struggle to access stop-smoking services and education. Their feedback reveals poor promotion, long waits, and inflexible support and outlines steps that could help more people kick the habit.  

Healthwatch England and a coalition of trade unions, professional bodies, charities and patient groups, call for an end to treating patients in corridors and other inappropriate spaces.

As pressure mounts on emergency care services, one patient's story shows why change is needed to ensure everyone can accesses urgent care when they need it.

Healthwatch England welcomes plans for a Social Care Commission.