Here you can our governance documents and information about how our advisory board keeps us the independent champions of health and social care change in Somerset. Governance Documents Please click on a document below to view/download the document. Complaints Policy Decision Making Policy Advisory Board Terms of Reference What does the Advisory Group do? Our Advisory Group works alongside the local team to play an important role in setting and maintaining the strategic direction of Healthwatch Somerset. It has a significant role to play, ensuring that Healthwatch Somerset adheres to its principles and purpose and operates in a moral and ethical way in the service of the local community. The role includes: Formulating strategy and workplans with the local Manager Ensuring accountability for quality delivery of the strategy and workplan Shaping a positive culture Providing accountability to local people The Advisory Group is formed of volunteers and lay people and is not responsible for the day to day running of Healthwatch Somerset. This is done by a small team of paid staff. Meetings Most of the Advisory Group’s meetings are held in public, with an opportunity to ask questions at the discretion of the chairman; these are not public meetings. There are certain decisions – who we represent and engage with, for example – which have to be taken in a meeting in public. The Advisory Group may hold some meetings in private, if there are confidential issues to discuss, or as briefings to develop our strategy. At other times, the Advisory Group may hold open meetings to capture the experiences of local people who use health or care service Click on a meeting below to open/download a pdf version of meeting agenda/minutes. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 27 October 2025 Agenda to be agreed Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 28 July 2025 Meeting to discuss Healthwatch Somerset Complaints Process for Website, update on The People’s Vote, and Commissioners Report. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 23 April 2025 Meeting with an update on Finance; Q4 Commissioners Report, Review Updated Risk Register, Chair, Engagement, Volunteer, and Board Member Activity Reports, Speaker – Sarah Bird, Chief Executive, Timebanking UK Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 12 February 2025 Meeting to discuss Holding to Account: How Well is Your System Working? A toolkit produced by Healthwatch Surrey, review the Healthwatch Somerset Quality Assurance Framework and Action Plan, and review and update the HWS Board Risk Assessment document. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 27 January 2025 Meeting to discuss Healthwatch Somerset Complaints Process for Website; Update on The People’s Vote; Commissioners Report. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 3 December 2024 Meeting - Professor David Croisdale-Appleby OBE, Chair of Healthwatch England - Questions and Answers; Workplan Results. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 9 September 2024 Meeting to discuss Engagement, Volunteer, and Board Member Activity Reports; a brief update on what staff are working on; Hospital at Home Speakers Tracey Evans and Louise Bird from Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 8 July 2024 Meeting to discuss a brief update on what staff are working on; Terms of Reference for Healthwatch Somerset Board, and Decision-Making Policy; Key Performance Indicators; Chair’s Report and Board Members’ Reports; Speaker - Michelle Hawkes, Public Health Specialist, Somerset Council. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 13 May 2024 Meeting - Welcome from The Advocacy People and the Role of the Advisory Board; Brief Update from Healthwatch Somerset; Key Performance Indicators; Chair to lead discussion. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 19 February 2024 Meeting to discuss Update of Current Annual Work Programme; Questions about Chair’s Report, Engagement, Volunteer, and Board Members updates; Update from Evolving Communities; An Update on Treatment Escalation Plans. Agenda for Board Meeting Date of meeting 22 January 2024 Meeting to discuss update on recommissioning of Healthwatch Somerset’s Contract; Workplan ideas/peoples’ vote; Update on current projects; and Charitable status – open discussion Reports Reports can be found on our News & Reports page. Our Advisory Group members Judith Goodchild Chair Sandra Wilson Vice Chair Bob Champion Debbie Rigby Tony Robinson Sue Thomas Gill Waldron

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

If you’d like to get more involved with what we do at Healthwatch Somerset, volunteering is a great way to help make change in health and social care services. Find out more about volunteering opportunities here. Volunteer Make a difference in your local area by giving people the opportunity to speak up about their health and social care Make new friends as you become part of the team Boost your CV as you develop new skills and confidence Use your skills to contribute to the success of Healthwatch across the area Why volunteer with us? Help people in your community have their say on health and social care Our volunteers play a vital role speaking to local people about their experiences and giving them opportunities to share their views and ideas for how services can improve. Many of our volunteers spend time in our community finding out what people think of local services and raising awareness of Healthwatch. What can I do as a volunteer? Our volunteers help us in a number of ways. Whether you have an hour to spare or you're looking for a more regular commitment, there are a range of ways you can get involved. We train some of our volunteers to visit health and social care services and report on people's experiences. You might be observing the service, gathering the views of patients, residents and staff, and contributing to reports which highlight your findings. As a volunteer, you could be attending community events to raise awareness of Healthwatch and encourage people to share their feedback on health and social care in our community. Why do I volunteer? I wanted to give back to the NHS health service that has done so much for my family and Healthwatch gave me that opportunity... - Jan S Volunteer Expression of Interest What type work are you interested in volunteering for (check all that apply) * Required Admin/office work Attending events/stalls Speaking to the public Supporting the governance and decision making of Healthwatch Visiting health and social care settings to see them in action Enter your first name here Enter your email address here Enter your last name here Enter your contact number here Tell us a bit about you and why you'd be a great volunteer I want to subscribe to the newsletter 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 your interest in volunteering

Articles that may not have the most up to date information but are still interesting to read are stored in our archive. Archive This is where we keep news and report articles that may still be interesting but the content may be out of date or superseded. Healthwatch England research: Tell us your story of maternal mental health care Oct 31, 2022 Making it easier for people to get healthcare and support via GP websites Oct 27, 2022 Share your views to help shape NHS Same Day Urgent Care services in Somerset Oct 17, 2022 1 2 3 4 5

We run, host and attend many events each month. Find out more about local events taking place in Somerset and Have Your Say. Events We run and attend multiple events throughout the year, check the calendar below to see what we've got coming up. October 2025 Today Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 9:30 Thinking Together: Accessible health and care information +1 more 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Your data is important and must be handled with care. There are laws and regulations about how your data can and must be processed. Find out more about what data we collect, what we do with it. Privacy policy This Privacy Statement sets out the data processing practices carried out by Healthwatch Somerset. We retain and use personal data (information that relates to and identifies living people) to help us carry out our role as the local independent champion for people who use health and social care services. We will always make sure that your information is protected and treated securely. Any information that you give will be held in accordance with: Data Protection Act 2018 Healthwatch Somerset is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under the registration of its host organisation, The Advocacy People, registration no. Z9231372. Our Information Governance Policy is available on request. We also make our Information Asset Register available on request, for people to read to give further clarity about how data relating to them is managed and kept secure, this includes our retention schedule and clear details about the lawful basis for storing and keeping personally identifiable information. Information we collect We collect personal information from visitors to this website through the use of online forms and every time you email us your details. We also collect feedback and views from people about the health and social care services that they access. In addition, we receive information about our own staff and people who apply to work for us. Information about people who use our website Information about people who share their experiences with us by other means Information about our own staff and people applying to work for us Security We are strongly committed to data security and we take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or corruption. We have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information you provide to us. Only authorised employees and contractors under strict controls will have access to your personal information. Information about people who use our website Please note that this statement does not cover links within this website to other websites. When you browse through the information on this website, it does not store or capture your personal information. We do log your IP address (as it is automatically recognised by the web server) but this is only so you can download this website onto your device rather than for any tracking purpose; it is not used for any other purpose. We will only collect personal information provided by you, such as: feedback from surveys and online forms email addresses phone numbers preferred means of communication How we will use your personal information Personal information about you can be used for the following purposes: in our day-to-day work to send you our newsletter where you have requested it to respond to any queries you may have to improve the quality and safety of care This may include any personal information that you choose to share with us, but we will treat this as confidential and protect it accordingly. We will never include your personal information in survey reports. Information about people who share their experiences with us by other means There are a number of ways that we collect feedback from people about their experiences of using health and social care services day to day. Our staff will visit different health and social care settings as part of their role to evaluate how services are being delivered. We also receive phone calls and requests for information directly from members of the public as part of our signposting service. We also now receive information via a variety of social media channels, but always advise against sharing information in a public forum and will remove it if required. Where personally identifiable information is collected we will ensure that we have your consent to keep it and we will be clear on how we intend to use your information. We will aim to anonymise information where we can but there may be instances where this is not possible in order to make change happen on your behalf. There may be exceptional circumstances where we can and will keep the data without consent but we must have a lawful basis for doing so, such as for safeguarding purposes or if we believe you or someone else may be committing a serious criminal offense or a court says we have to. We ensure that where consent is required it will be freely given, used only for agreed specific and unambiguous purposes and that you are well informed about how the information will be kept. This includes where it will be stored, details on security and for how long it will be kept. We will comply with current data protection legislation at all times. Personal information may be collected with your consent through: Our signposting and advice service When we receive feedback by phone, outreach work or through surveys Enter and View activity Events and focus groups Personal data received from other sources On occasion we will receive information from the families, friends and carers of people who access health and social care services. We use this data to inform providers and commissioners to help them deliver services that work for you. Where it is practically possible, we will make sure that we have your consent to use information that is about you. We will only process your personal data where there is a lawful basis to do so under current data protection legislation. Publishing information In most circumstances we anonymise our data to ensure that a person cannot be identified unless this has been otherwise agreed and consent has been given. Sharing your data with Healthwatch England We are required to share information with Healthwatch England to ensure that your views are considered at a national level. This enables them to analyse service provision across the country and supply the Department of Health and national commissioners with the information you provide. Find out more about Healthwatch England’s purpose and what they do. The information we provide to Healthwatch England contains no personally identifiable data. Any information that is used for national publications is anonymised and will only be used with the consent of a local Healthwatch. Our data systems Healthwatch England provides a secure digital system for local Healthwatch to manage their data. Other organisations process the data contained within it on behalf of local Healthwatch and a Data Processing Agreement is in place to ensure that this is held securely and according to current data protection legislation. Healthwatch England is a committee of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) but acts independently. These organisations must comply with all legal requirements and do not reuse any data for any other reason or make it available to others. Information about our own staff and people applying to work with us We need to process personal data about our own staff (and people applying to work for us) so that we can carry out our role and meet our legal and contractual responsibilities as an employer. The personal data that we process includes information about racial or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender and sexuality. We use this information to check we are promoting and ensuring diversity in our workforce and to make sure we are complying with equalities legislation. Our employees decide whether or not to share this monitoring data with us and can choose to withdraw their consent for this at any time. Employees who wish to withdraw their consent for us to process this data can let us know. Other personal data that we are required to process includes information on qualifications and experience, pay and performance, contact details and bank details. We check that people who work for us are fit and suitable for their roles. This may include asking people to undertake Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. People joining Healthwatch Somerset will be asked to complete a ‘declaration of interests’ form to identify any services with which they have close links (for example, because they have previously worked there or because the service is run by a close relative) or any other issues which could cause a perceived conflict of interest. Staff are regularly asked to update these forms. We also publish some information about our staff, including the names and work contact details of people in some roles. How we share information with other organisations We only share personal information with other organisations where it is lawful to so and in accordance with our Information Governance Policy. Information is shared in order to fulfil our remit which is to pass on your experiences of care to help improve them on your behalf. We work with Healthwatch England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), local commissioners, NHS Improvement and our local authority to make this happen. We can also engage external suppliers to process personal information on our behalf. We will only disclose your personal information where we have your consent to do so, or where there is another very good reason to make the disclosure – for example, we may disclose information to CQC or a local authority where we think it is necessary to do so in order to protect a vulnerable person from abuse or harm. Any such disclosure will be made in accordance with the requirements of the current data protection legislation. Wherever possible, we will ensure that any information that we share or disclose is anonymised, so as to ensure that you cannot be identified from it. We sometimes use other organisations to process personal data on our behalf. Where we do this, those companies are required to follow the same rules and information security requirements as us, outlined in a Data Processing Contract. They are not permitted to use reuse the data for other purposes. Retention and disposal of personal data We comply with our host organisation’s privacy policy which includes how they retain and dispose of personal data. This policy explains how long we keep different types of records and documents for, including records and documents containing personal data. Personal data is deleted or securely destroyed at the end of its retention period. We: Keep your information up to date, when necessary Only keep your information for as long as we need it, after which it will be destroyed Protect your information from unauthorised or accidental disclosure Provide you with a copy of your personal information on request Correct inaccurate or misleading data as soon as possible Your rights By providing us with your personal information, including sensitive information such as medical details, you consent to the collection and use of this information in accordance with the purposes described in our Privacy Policy. We take appropriate measures to ensure that the personal information disclosed to us is kept secure, accurate, and up to date. We will ensure that your personal information is kept only for so long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and is securely destroyed in accordance with our data retention and disposal policy – see our Data Protection Policy. You have the right to see what personal data we hold about you and to request a copy. You have a right to object to the processing your personal information, or for any information held about you to be corrected. Such a request should be made in writing and we will take steps to amend, or to delete your identifying information and stop processing your data. However, we may retain other information that cannot specifically be used to identify you and are required to do this for contractual and compliance reasons. Our contact details and key roles To request a copy of your personal data or make any other enquiry under this policy contact directly our host organisation The Advocacy People who are contractually responsible for Healthwatch Somerset. Address correspondence for the attention of The Data Protection Officer, contact details can be found on their website here . The Advocacy People acts as data controller for the personal data that you provide Healthwatch Somerset. Complaints about how we look after or use your information If you feel that we have not met our responsibilities under data protection legislation, you have a right to request an independent assessment from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can find details on their website .

Most modern technology has built in accessibility tools. Here you can find resources to help you use those digital accessibility tools. Accessibility Resources for desktops and laptops Modern desktop and laptop computer operating systems such as Microsoft's Windows and Apple's OS X have built-in accessibility tools and features, to help users navigate content locally on their machines and online. To find out more about these features please use the relevant link below: Microsoft Windows Apple OS X