Watch our short video to find out how Healthwatch gives people a powerful voice, both locally and at the national level, in shaping health and social care policies and services. Locally, Healthwatch Havering works to help Havering people get the best out of their local health and social care services, whether it's improving them today or helping to shape them for tomorrow.

We have recently published reports following visits to Health and Social Care facilities in Havering - to read the report, click the name:

Joint Review into Delayed Referrals to Treatment at Queen's Hospital and responses;   Ogura Ward at Goodmayes Hospital;  Abbeleigh House (revisit);   The Learning Centre (revisit);   Oak Lodge Surgery (Dr Chowdhury);   Beech Court (revisit);   Ravenscourt (revisit);   Romford Nursing Care Home;   Harlow Road Surgery (Dr K Subramanian);   Hillside Care Home;   Dr Joseph's Surgery, Collier Row;   Ashling House care home;   New Medical Centre;   WDP Havering (Drugs and Alcohol recovery service) (revisit);   Ashbrook (revisit);   Heatherbrook;    Alton House;  Berwick Surgery, Rainham

For our reports on other facilities, go to Health and Social Care facilities - our monitoring reports on premises and services.

In April 1989, a catalogue of official errors at Sheffield United's Hillsborough Football Stadium resulted in 96 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The errors were compounded by the insensitive way that the relatives of the deceased were treated by the police and other agencies and by the media for many years.

At the request of Theresa May when she was Home Secretary, Bishop James Jones has recently reported on the pain and suffering of the families and how to ensure it is not repeated.

Although Hillsborough is far from Havering, the lessons of what happened there apply equally to ensuring that ANY tragedy is handled appropriately and that the enormity of the failings it revealed is never repeated.

"The patronising disposition of unaccountable power": A report to ensure the pain and suffering of the Hillsborough families is not repeated by Bishop Jones can be downloaded here.

Healthwatch Havering welcomes the publication of this report and hopes that those who have cause to deal with bereaved relatives will read it, take on board its lessons and apply what they have learned to the way in which they deal with relatives.

Healthwatch Havering is supporting a public consultation by the Public Health department of Havering Council on the needs for pharmacies across Havering. The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) is carried out every two years and aims to plan the future provision of pharmacies that dispense medicines on behalf of the NHS.

You can learn more about the PNA here and give your views here

Our colleagues at Healthwatch England and in local Healthwatch across the country have issued 10 top tips for getting the most out of GP appointments.

Appointments with a GP are not always easy to get and GPs do not always have enough time to spend with every patient so making the best use of their time, and of yours, is very important.

Click here to read Healthwatch's 10 top tips to get the most out of your GP

Click here to read our reports on some GP practices in Havering