Our Quarterly Impact & Activity Report: July to September 2026
Quarterly highlights
Between July and September 2026:
- We recorded 282 pieces of health and social care feedback
- We referred or escalated 88 complaints and concerns
- We supported four NHS Devon neighbourhood health engagement days
- We responded to six requests for evidence from the Care Quality Commission and Devon County Council's Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee.
Download the full report
What people told us
People continued sharing positive and negative experiences of local services, with recurring concerns including:
- difficulties accessing GP appointments and online services
- long waits for hospital care, particularly cardiology appointments and follow-up
- problems finding affordable NHS dentistry
- waiting times and communication at Torbay Hospital's Emergency Department
- mixed experiences of NHS 111
- confusion around adult social care charges and financial assessments.
Key work and impact
Helping shape neighbourhood health
We supported four NHS Devon engagement days in Plymouth, Tavistock, Paignton and Exeter, helping local people share their views about accessing care closer to home and how services could work better together.
Read more about neighbourhood health engagement
Listening to experiences of leaving hospital
We launched two pieces of work exploring people's experiences of leaving hospital, including communication, discharge arrangements and support after returning home.
Read more about our hospital discharge work
Responding to maternity service changes
Following the temporary suspension of births at North Devon District Hospital in August, we gathered concerns about travel, communication and birth arrangements, sharing evidence with Devon County Council's Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee.
What we did with your views
- Following concerns about hospital appointment reminders, we sought clarification and received confirmation of the hospital's standard appointment notification arrangements.
- We highlighted concerns about adult social care charges, financial assessments and communication to Devon County Council's scrutiny committee.
- We shared patient feedback with the Care Quality Commission to support its inspection and monitoring work.
- We continued representing people's experiences in NHS and council meetings, local planning discussions and service improvement work.
Stop Press – Healthwatch will be retained and strengthened!
On 28 October 2026, the Government confirmed that it would withdraw proposals to abolish Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch organisations.
This is wonderful news for our staff, volunteers and the communities we serve. The network will be retained and reformed, although further details about future arrangements and funding are still to be confirmed.
Healthwatch in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay remains open, independent and fully operational.
Read the full announcement and a statement from our Chair, Dr Kevin Dixon
