About Us
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove is your local health and social care champion. From Portslade to Saltdean and everywhere in between, we make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers hear your voice and use your feedback to improve care.
If you use GPs and hospitals, dentists, pharmacies, care homes or other support services in your area, we want to hear about your experiences. We are independent and have the power to make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers listen to local feedback and improve standards of care. We can also help you to find reliable and trustworthy information and advice. Last year, the Healthwatch network helped nearly a million people like you to have your say and get the support you need.
We are part of a network of over 150 local Healthwatch across the country. We’re here to listen to the issues that really matter to people in Brighton and Hove and to hear about your experiences of using local health and social care services. We’re entirely independent and impartial, and anything you share with us is confidential.
You can also watch a BSL signed video which explains more about what we do and how we can help.
The power of your feedback
We use your feedback to better understand the challenges facing the NHS and other care providers nationally, to make sure your experiences improve health and care services for everyone.
It’s really important that you share your experiences – whether good or bad, happy or sad. If you’ve had a negative experience, it’s easy to think there’s no point in complaining, and that ‘nothing ever changes’. Or, if you’ve had a great experience, that you ‘wish you could say thank you’. Remember, your feedback is helping to improve people’s lives. So if you need advice, or you’re ready to tell your story – we’re hear to listen.
We can also help you to get the information and advice and you need to make the right decisions for you and to get the support you deserve.
What kind of organisation are we
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove was set up on April 2013, with a role to represent the views of the people that use health and social care services in our city. We are a community interest company (CIC), a non-charitable limited company which exists to benefit a community or with a view to pursuing a social purpose, rather than to make a profit for shareholders.
Though commissioned and funded by Brighton and Hove City Council, we are independent of both the council and the NHS.