Without your voice, we can’t champion and campaign for changes in health and social care within Somerset. Let us know what is important to you, Have Your Say by sharing your experiences with us. Have your say Sharing your opinions and telling your stories about your experiences with health and social care helps us to see the bigger picture. This helps health and social care services to see what's going right and what's not, which allows them to focus on providing the best possible service to you. Complete the short form below to have your say ... What type of service would you like to tell us about? (select all that apply) * Required GP services Dentist Pharmacies Hospital inpatient (day treatment or overnight) Hospital outpatients' appointments Mental health support Social care eg care homes Accident and emergency/minor injury units Ambulances and paramedics NHS 111 Other (please tell us about it in the message box below) Enter your first name here (Optional) Enter your last name here (Optional) Enter your email address here (Optional) Enter your message here I want to subscribe to the newsletter. (Please add your name and email address above). I agree to my data being stored and used in line with the privacy policy. Click here to see the privacy policy Submit Thank you for sharing your views with us

Healthwatch Somerset is the independent champion for people who use health and social care services. We’re here to make sure that those running services put people of Somerset at the heart of care. We want to hear from you We're collecting your stories and experiences about GP surgeries, Dentists, Pharmacies and all other health and social care services. Tell us about your experiences and help shape the future of care. Have your say As the NHS 10 Year Plan develops, Healthwatch continues to deliver its work plan and work closely with communities and partners across health and care services. We look forward to continuing to listen to local voices and work alongside people and organisations to support positive change. News & Views To see all news posts, click here Thank you so much for all your help. I had been sent around in circles before coming to you; for you to be so kind and determined was a breath of fresh air. Parent who struggled to find an NHS dentist Upcoming events To see all events, click here No events at the moment subscribe Sign up for our news letter Email First Name Last Name I agree to my data being stored and used in line with the privacy policy. Click here to see the privacy policy Subscribe Thank you for subscribing

Health and Social care services in Somerset don’t always get things right. Speaking up when things go wrong is important. Here you can find ways to help you have your say and make a complaint. Help making a complaint Resources to help when you have concerns or a complaint about the NHS NHS Complaints Advocacy is a statutory right, meaning that the general public can receive free, independent and confidential support to get any NHS complaint resolved. Advocacy helps you to understand your options, your rights and helps to make sure your voice is heard. The provider of NHS complaints advocacy in this area is: South West Advocacy Network South West Advocacy Network More information about NHS & social care complaints Healthwatch England have put together some very useful information and guidance on making complaints or raising concerns to the NHS and other health and social care service providers. Visit Healthwatch England's website Whilst the Care Quality Commission (CQC) don't investigate complaints, they do want to hear about concerns, in case they are beginning an investigation. Visit the CQC website

We asked you to help shape our workplan for 2026/27 and our latest report shows the results of what you told us. We use the feedback we gather over the year, along with national priorities, to help decide what our key projects should be. This information is used to create a shortlist of topics for our workplan. We exist to represent the voice of the people To make sure our work reflects what matters most to you, we share the shortlist publicly each year. We then invite you to vote for your two preferred topics. This year: 161 people took part in our public vote The top priority was community health and wellbeing support The NHS referral process was the second most popular topic People also raised concerns about mental health, dentistry, GP services, and digital exclusion We will use this feedback to help shape our work in 2026/27 To find out the result, read our brief report which explains the methods and findings from our public engagement. Read our report If you need this report in a different format, please email info@healthwatchsomerset.co.uk or call 0800 999 1286.

We heard from 161 people across the county about the health and care issues that matter most to them. Your feedback will help shape our work in 2026/27 and make sure local people’s experiences continue to be heard by decision makers. The four topics we asked you to vote on were: A. Community health and wellbeing support Your feedback shows us gaps in community support, causing some people to return to hospital because post-discharge care isn’t reliable. We will gather your experiences of post discharge care and use them to influence the structure of Neighbourhood Health Hubs. B. Has the NHS referral process improved? In 2025, you told us NHS referrals were often delayed or lost, and that communication while waiting was unclear. We will look at whether recent national changes have improved the process and use your feedback to help shape services. C. Men’s health and wellbeing services Following the launch of the first Men’s Health Strategy in 2025, we want to hear from men in Somerset about their health and wellbeing needs. Their views on services will help improve care and reduce health inequalities and barriers. D. Support for parent carers of adult children Our work with carers has highlighted difficulties that parent carers of adult children with learning disabilities and complex neurodiversity face. We aim to understand these challenges and use your insight to improve support services and care for families. The most popular topic in our public vote was community health and wellbeing support. This was the clear first choice for many people and the most popular topic overall. The second most popular topic was the NHS referral process, showing that people are still concerned about how easy it is to get the care they need. We also asked people if there were other issues they wanted us to look at. Mental health services were mentioned most often, including support for children and young people. People also raised concerns about access to NHS dentists, GP appointments, and digital exclusion, especially when services are harder to use without going online. This feedback gives us an important picture of what matters most to people in Somerset right now. We will use it to help guide our engagement and research work over the coming year, so that people’s voices remain at the heart of local health and care services. Read and download a PDF copy of the full report from our reports page using the link below. The people's voice: What matters most to you in Somerset health and care services 2026/27

We asked you to help shape our workplan for 2025/26 and our latest report shows the results of what you told us. Each year, we gather information about how local health and social services are running and use it to spot common patterns or issues. Using the intelligence collected over the course of 12 months, alongside wider national considerations, our Advisory Board discuss possible key projects for the next year. Our goal is to listen to what people have to say. We want to make sure that the main projects we choose for the year are sound and clear, and that they truly reflect the needs of the community. Every year, we share a list of the top project ideas with the public, and everyone gets a chance to pick their two favourite options. This year our four shortlisted topics were: Waiting lists for procedures Waiting times for medical procedures are a problem across the country, but here locally, we’ve noticed that people are not getting clear updates about their wait times and the procedures themselves. We want to look into how and when patients are being informed while they’re waiting for their medical treatments. Hospital transport Somerset's rural nature makes travelling to and from hospital appointments challenging for those unable to use standard transport. We aim to understand the experiences of people booking hospital transport and the service's communication with patients. Transfer of Care/Discharge from hospital - excluding dementia During 2024 people shared with us the difficulties they have experienced when moving from the hospital to back home. We want to listen to patients and carers tell us what they need when leaving hospital. Long wait for/no support for children and adolescents experiencing poor mental health The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Somerset provides mental health evaluations, support for children and young people up to 18 years old and can direct you to other helpful services. We aim to explore how help is given and what procedures are in place for those who do not qualify. To find out the result, read our brief report which explains the methods and findings from our public investigation. The people’s choice 2025: Listening to your voice in our key projects for in 2025/26