News and reports

At Healthwatch Dorset, we regularly hear from people with neurodiversity who have faced challenges getting the help they need. Three years, three separate diagnosis, and three attempts at titration: Our Engagement Officer, Lucy chatted to Darren who told us about his ADHD diagnosis pathway and the difficulties that he has experienced.

In September 2025 Healthwatch Dorset were commissioned by Public Health to research smoking cessation access in BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) and Dorset.

March 1st was International Wheelchair Day – a time to celebrate the positive impact and independence wheelchairs provide. To mark the occasion, our Engagement Officer, Lucy, chatted to our volunteer, Anna who kindly shared her personal journey and her experiences as a wheelchair user.

This Share for Better Care Week, take three minutes to share your experience of health and social care. Your voice plays a vital role in making services better. Every experience shared can help highlight what works and what could be better when it comes to your care.

To raise awareness for World Cancer Day, Engagement Officer Lucy chatted with our volunteer, Kerry, about her recent cancer journey. We are incredibly grateful to Kerry for sharing her story with us. Here is what she shared

Healthwatch Dorset is pleased to welcome Gary Alessio as a new member of our Board. Gary expressed an interest in our board and his insight from his years' working in the NHS will help us navigate the changing health system through the year ahead.  Our Engagement Officer, Lucy, caught up with Gary to talk about his background, what he enjoys, and what inspired him to join the Healthwatch Dorset Board. Here's what he shared.

Our Engagement Officer, Lucy recently met with members of the Addiction Care and Treatment Services team at University Hospital’s Dorset to find out how they support inpatients, what the term ‘alcohol harm reduction’ actually means, and the benefits of taking up the Dry January® challenge.

We visited Bournemouth Hospital A&E to see what impact the new building that opened in May 2025 has had on people’s experience of care.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, raising awareness of lung cancer's signs, symptoms, and risks. Our Engagement Officer, Lucy has been talking to men who smoke about using local smoking cessation offers. To continue the 'stop smoking' theme, Lucy interviewed Dan, a Behaviour Change Practitioner for LiveWell Dorset to find about more about their free stop smoking offers in Dorset.

Our latest report explores how first and second-generation immigrants in Bournemouth experience NHS services — and what can be done to make healthcare more inclusive, easy to access and culturally responsive.

Our report explores the experiences of first and second-generation immigrants when accessing NHS services, focusing on how effectively the NHS communicated with them. We wanted to identify the barriers, as well as areas for improvement in delivering more inclusive, accessible healthcare for diverse local communities.

To mark the 50th year of Prisons Week in October (12-18) and continuing our theme of engaging with seldom heard communities, our Engagement Officer Lucy Cribb spoke to an inmate about his experience of accessing healthcare in prison.