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This winter has been extremely cold and dry, which creates ideal conditions for viruses to survive. Cold weather can also weaken the immune system. This is why more people catch colds and flu in winter. The good news is that the NHS provides a free flu vaccine for people who are more at risk, including those who: are aged 65 or over have certain long-term health conditions are pregnant children aged 2-17, or 6 months+ with weakened immunity live in a care home are a main car

We visited the Summerlee Unit on 30 September 2025. Summerlee Unit is an inpatient unit situated on the First Floor of Harry Sotnick House in Portsmouth. Enter and view visits is a Healthwatch programme, enabling trained members of a local Healthwatch team to enter and visit  care services in practice; talk to patients, their families, and carers; learn about services from the perspective of people who experience the service first-hand. This visit helped us understand how th

We have successfully held our Advisory Board meeting in public at Cosham Baptist Church on 8 December 2025. It was lovely to meet some of our board members and the new joiners representing the public. Healthwatch Portsmouth Managers' Report Read the Healthwatch Portsmouth Managers' report to find out what we discussed in the meeting. Below are some of the topics we included in this report: Healthwatch structures and governance Local Authority Strategic and Unitary Authority