Help us to protect and strengthen local voices
Background
The NHS 10 Year Health plan proposes to abolish Healthwatch England and 152 local Healthwatch, and transfer functions ‘in-house’ to local authorities and NHS Integrated Care Boards once legislation has passed. This is a result of the review of patient safety across the health and care landscape, led by Dr Penny Dash.
If this goes ahead as planned, it will remove the only collective, independent and statutory opportunity for the public to hold the NHS and social care system to account.
It is worth remembering why Healthwatch was created. Healthwatch was established by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to give people a stronger voice in shaping health and social care services. That’s what Healthwatch up and down the country have done and continue to do.
Why is independence important?
Proposals to bring public voice functions under the control of local authorities or NHS bodies threatens to compromise the impartiality, trust, and effectiveness of these initiatives.
People come to Healthwatch with deeply, personal, complex and challenging stories. We ask questions others don’t, produce reports that go beyond asking if things are good and bad, and make recommendations based on the evidence and experiences that local people share with us. Removing independence would mean losing this trusted voice that turns experience into change.
What would the impact be in Redbridge if the service was abolished?
Without Healthwatch Redbridge, local people would lose their only statutory, independent way to raise concerns about health and care. Trust could fall, and the voices of those facing health inequalities may go unheard. This risks poorer services and less accountability.
Our borough is home to diverse communities, who face unique challenges in accessing health and social care services. We scrutinise issues others overlook and are uniquely positioned to understand the broader contexts that drives health inequalities, and the challenges local people face. Our independence allows us to speak up for those who need us to and understand the complex barriers people face when accessing care.
Help protect local voices
If independence is lost, trust is lost. People need somewhere impartial to turn to, especially those who feel unheard or fear repercussions. Without an independent service to listen and act, speaking up will be harder, and change less likely.
Help protect and strengthen independence by sharing and signing the national petition that calls on the government to:
- Invest in and strengthen independent public voice
- Engage with local Healthwatch leaders to co-design a future that puts people first
- Recognise the role independent voice can play in supporting the three shifts outlined in the 10-year health plan– by providing constructive challenge and supporting coproduction, particularly with those communities facing the greatest health and care needs.
We’re still here for you
While the Healthwatch network faces changes in the future, we are still here, open and working for local people.
A lot needs to happen before anything will change for Healthwatch. The Government needs to outline how this will happen and change the law.
This means that we are still here, open, and working for local people.
We continue to:
- Listen to your experiences of health and social care.
- Share what we hear with those in power to help improve services.
- Provide advice and information to help you find the support you need.
