People across Hampshire are being invited to share their real experiences of local health and social care, and your voice could help shape how services improve in the years ahead. Stripy Lightbulb CIC is working with Healthwatch Hampshire and Action Hampshire to help reach more residents and ensure a wide range of voices are heard.
This project is open only to people who live in Hampshire and use Hampshire‑based health or social care services. Residents of Portsmouth and Southampton are not eligible, as those cities have their own Healthwatch services.
Health and social care services can only improve when the people who use them share what’s working, and what isn’t. Healthwatch Hampshire is the independent patient voice for the county, and they use real experiences from local people to influence NHS leaders, local authorities, and service providers. Their toolkit highlights that feedback helps uncover emerging issues, champion equality, and make recommendations that providers need to respond to.
Your insight helps them:
- Understand what’s going well
- Identify where people are struggling
- Spot patterns across communities
- Highlight barriers and inequalities
- Ensure underserved groups are not overlooked
Sharing your story helps build the bigger picture of what life is really like for people navigating the system.
Stripy Lightbulb CIC focuses on, and works for the benefit of, the M.E./C.F.S. community, and encourage members of this community to participate to ensure M.E./C.F.S. voices are included and heard. However, this project is open to ALL Hampshire residents regardless of diagnosis or circumstances.
You can take part if:
- You live in Hampshire (not Portsmouth or Southampton)
- You have used any Hampshire‑based health or social care service
- You are willing to share your experiences, positive or negative
- Carers and family members are also welcome to contribute
This aligns with the project’s requirement to gather experiences from “Hampshire residents” using local services.
Participation is designed to be simple and accessible.
You can:
- Join an online workshop (with rest breaks included), or
- Complete a short online feedback form
If enough people prefer a virtual workshop, we will arrange one. If you choose the form instead, just let us know when you’ve submitted it so we can confirm your participation with Healthwatch.
Healthwatch Hampshire emphasises that the project is about listening to lived experience. You can talk about any service you’ve used: GPs, hospitals, dentistry, mental health, social care, paramedics, children’s services, and more. Their toolkit encourages people to share experiences such as:
“Which health and social care services do you need to access the most?” and
“Have you had any problems getting the services you need?”
You don’t need to prepare anything or need special wording. You just need to share what happened.
We are committed to ensuring that all communities across Hampshire are included in conversations about health and social care. By supporting this project, we’re helping ensure that:
- Residents’ voices are heard
- Real experiences are represented in county‑wide data
- Barriers and inequalities are recognised
- People are not left out of mainstream health and social care planning
But we can only do this with your help.
If you live in Hampshire (not Portsmouth or Southampton) and have used any local health or social care service, we want to hear from you.
Your experience matters.
Your voice can influence change.
Together, we can help ensure Hampshire’s services work better for everyone.
Get in touch to take part.
Email: [email protected]
