A NEW health watchdog has launched a campaign to get feedback on services within the NHS.

Healthwatch Hampshire, which attempts to improve local services by hearing the opinions of those who use them, is running Healthwatch Week from March 31 to April 5 with a series of events across the county.

On Monday (March 31) representatives for the service set up stalls in Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and Gosport War Memorial Hospital, to hear what people had to say on the hospital’s facilities and services by setting up a giant thermometer to represent negative or positive views of the hospital.

Steve Taylor, manager of Healthwatch Hampshire, was among those encouraging people to take part.

He said: “We are asking people to write down what they think on a post-it note, and then we can place it on the thermometer depending on if it is positive or negative, with negative at the top in red, and positive towards the bottom in blue.

“It is something that we are doing across the whole of Hampshire to try and raise awareness that people can speak up about health and social care, and this week is about letting as many people know about it as possible.”

The watchdog, which is completely independent of the NHS, is run by three organisations – Citizens Advice Bureau, Community Action Hampshire, and Help and Care, feeds its findings back to health commissioners and the NHS, in hopes of improving existing services.

There are events throughout the week, including a coffee morning to celebrate World Autism Day on Wednesday (April 2) in Whiteley, and a premier of ‘Unheard Carers’ in partnership with Winchester Young Carers Project.

For more information go to healthwatchhampshire.co.uk.