Today, I met up with Kate Scribbens (new Chief Executive of Healthwatch Surrey), and Matthew Parris (Evidence and Insights Manager). Healthwatch Surrey was set up to give patients a voice in local policy-making.

At our meeting, we discussed a recent Healthwatch Surrey survey on patients views around the sharing of records - and the balance of expectations between wanting efficient services, and concerns around safety and confidentiality.

We also discussed local GP practices, and the critical challenge of ensuring surgeries provide an effective appointment-making process whilst also conveying a reasonable sense of expectations to patients. Healthwatch Surrey will feed their findings in to the work Surrey County Council and the local Clinical Commissioning Groups are doing in both of these areas.