Plymouth Veterans and Family Hub

Have you or someone you care for stayed overnight in an NHS hospital in the last year?

Did you feel ready to leave? Was the right support in place?

Sharing on behalf of Healthwatch Devon and Healthwatch Plymouth, who want to hear about your experience of leaving hospital. The intention is to make the experience safer, smoother and better supported for others. Healthwatch is particularly keen to hear from men, whose experiences are often underrepresented.

The short survey is open to people aged 16 and over in Devon and Plymouth and closes on 9 October 2026.

Survey link in the comments 👇

Need help completing it? Call Healthwatch free on 0800 520 0640.

Think you're seeing things?

If you're living with sight loss and you think you've started seeing things that aren't there, you don't have to deal with it alone.

Visual hallucinations are often linked to sight loss, and there's even a name for it: Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

Our Esme's Friends support group meets at the Mannamead Wellbeing Hub, 156 Mannamead Road, PL3 5QL, on a Thursday from 2pm to 3pm, every couple of months.

Anyone's welcome, whether you're living with it yourself or supporting someone who is 💜Get in touch now to learn more.

Brew & banter was buzzing this morning, lots of chats and laughs and some serious conversations going on.

The Hub leads the Veterans theme group for the armed forces Covenant, we work alongside Plymouth City Council and many amazing local charities to understand the needs and gaps in services for our Veteran and Armed Forces Community, it was great to hear from Luke Pollard at the latest network meeting.

Great to join the Armed Forces Covenant Summer Meeting last week alongside Cllr Pauline Murphy (Plymouth’s Armed Forces Champion), local Royal Navy personnel, and fantastic support organisations like Improving Lives. ⚓️

Plymouth is proud of its military identity, but ensuring our serving personnel, veterans, and military families get the backing they deserve takes constant work.

Meetings like this are vital for hearing directly from those on the front line of support-helping us strengthen partnerships, address gaps, and build on the brilliant work already happening across our city.

Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback and experiences. Working together, we’ll keep making a real difference for Plymouth’s Armed Forces community.

📢 Job Vacancy Alert 📢

We are recruiting three practitioner roles, in Community & Connection, Advice, and Carers. Each role is unique, but all involve working with a supportive team on meaningful issues affecting our communities.

To apply, visit the current jobs page of our website. You can go there directly by following the link in the comments. We encourage applications from everyone, even if you feel you don't meet all the non-essential criteria 💜

Working together to help reach unpaid carers 💜

St Luke's Hospice Plymouth Torbay Council Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust NHS Devon

If you care for someone, even just a little bit, you could be a carer. And that means there's support out there.

Contact your local Carers Service:

Caring for Carers (Plymouth) - 01752 201890
Devon Carers - 03456 434435
Torbay Carers Service - 01803 666620

Or visit the link in our comments 👇

Our phone lines are back up.

Thank you for your patience. If you tried to call us previously and couldn't get through, please give us another ring!

Our phone lines are having issues right now, and we're sorry for the disruption. If you need to reach us in the meantime, you can send us a message through the contact form on our website at improvinglives.org.uk, or message us on social media and we will pick it up. Our team is working to resolve the problem ASAP, we will post an update as soon as there is more news.

Thank you for your patience 💜

Join us for Together Time if you, or your loved ones, are living with dementia 💜

We're offering a weekly, low pressure environment, where those with shared experiences of managing dementia can come and just be together. If that sounds like it would be helpful, pop in or get in touch with Sandra to find out more.

📅 2nd Wednesday of the month, 10am to 12pm
📍 Ernest English House, Buckwell Street, Plymouth PL1 2DA
💷 £3 per session, includes refreshments

Reach Sandra at either:
📱07361 249874
📱01752 201766

There's still time to tell us what you would want out of a City Centre Wellbeing Hub at Ernest English House! 📢

If you live near the waterfront or city centre, this is for you. We want to build you a local wellbeing hub that serves your needs, but we want your input to do it right.

You can drop along for an informal chat, scan the qr code, or just message us on social media with your thoughts.

Shape the future of your neighbourhood 💜