News and reports

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression triggered by seasonal changes. One in twenty people in the UK are diagnosed with the condition, with men more likely to be diagnosed with SAD than women.

With more than thirty recognised symptoms of menopause and growing
awareness of the impact on day-to-day life, knowing what to look out
for and what support is available can help you.

Tips to help you stay well this winter and get the care you need.

Earlier this year Healthwatch England published it’s position on Women’s Health. They outlined what they were calling for to improve and tackle health inequalities for women.

Healthwatch has adopted a more structured approach to help those most affected by differences in the provision of and access to health and social care.

The wider determinants of health are a diverse range of social, economic and environmental factors which influence people’s mental and physical health.

The ICB have published various priorities within their interim strategy.

Each October multiple awareness raising campaigns are running, some focused on specific weeks or days.

Having concluded our visits to 15 Care Homes across Kent & Medway talking to residents, their families and staff about the Enhanced Health in Care Home programme we have now completed our stakeholder facing report and have now shared our findings with Aging Well.

Healthwatch Kent works to improve the experience of being a Kent resident regarding social needs, health and wellbeing. To do this we support the Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) which are the NHS organisation form that replaced Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in 2022.

We continue our support of the NHS and Kent County Council in hearing from the public to codesign the future of their Integrated Community Equipment Services (ICES).

Last month we shared about how West Kent’s community larders continue to grow. The Shepway larder supports an average of 300 people and provides more than 500 bags of shopping a month. A second community larder now supports Park Wood.