Local Healthwatch champions the voices of 100,089 people in the last year

TCF is proud to share the findings of its latest Healthwatch annual reports, revealing that over 100,000 people accessed our services over the past year across B&NES, Swindon, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Read our Bristol annual report

This milestone highlights our ongoing commitment to ensuring that everyone’s voice counts – especially those who are too often unheard in the design and delivery of health and care services.

Throughout the year, we worked closely with communities whose needs and experiences are frequently overlooked, including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) groups, military families, LGBTQI+ and Nepalese, Bangladeshi, and Hong Kong communities.

By building trusted relationships and providing culturally sensitive support, we’ve helped individuals share their experiences and shape the services they use.

Kevin Peltonen-Messenger, CEO at TCF, said:

"Real change happens when people with lived experience are not just heard – but valued. Our services continue to build relationships with and reach communities otherwise unheard in service and system design and implementation. This year’s review is a testament to the power of community voice in creating more inclusive, responsive, and equitable health and care systems."

Key achievements from this year include:

• Supporting over 100,000 individuals with advice, signposting, and advocacy.
• Delivering targeted engagement projects to surface community-specific insights, particularly around access, language barriers, and trust.
• Facilitating feedback loops between service users and system leaders to ensure local voices inform decision-making.
• Providing evidence-based recommendations that have influenced system redesign and improved access to care for marginalised groups.

Healthwatch’s work this year demonstrates that meaningful engagement – especially with seldom-heard communities – is not only possible, but essential for creating services that work for everyone.

As we look ahead, Healthwatch remains committed to deepening our partnerships with communities and championing co-production in health and care transformation.

Amongst all of the uncertainty you may have heard about Healthwatch, our seven independent services are not quangos and are needed by the system if we are to define efficient services by the metrics of safety and inclusion.