HealthWatch
The White Paper ‘Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS’ set out the Government’s vision for transforming health and social care. Among the reforms announced in this Paper include the development of a stronger consumer voice through the creation of HealthWatch England, a national independent champion for health and social care consumers. In addition to a national HealthWatch, the Paper states that the Government ‘will build on the current role of LINks by turning them into local HealthWatch – a ‘citizens’ advice bureau’ for health and social care.’ The Government is committed to the LINk concept and want to build on this, by granting HealthWatch additional powers on top of those currently held by LINks. They also state that LINks will not be abolished but instead evolved into HealthWatch. In summary, the new responsibilities will be:
HealthWatch England:
- Will sit within the CQC to provide leadership and support to local HealthWatch.
- Can recommend CQC investigations of poor services based on information from local HealthWatch.
- Will collate information to help patients make choices about health and care.
- Will give advice to the NHS Commissioning Board, Monitor and the Secretary of State.
Local HealthWatch:
- Gather patients’ views and make recommendations to improve services.
- Assist GP consortia to involve patients and the public in commissioning decisions by providing evidence about what local people need and want.
- Continued right to enter and view premises.
- Funded by and accountable to local authorities. It will be down to each local authority to decide their own commissioning arrangements in terms of contracting a host or setting up an independent local HealthWatch.
- Source of intelligence for HealthWatch England – report concerns about services.
- Place on new local Health and Well Being board.
- Advocacy service for people making complaints. Again it will be for the local authority to decide if they want to commission local HealthWatch to perform this function or another provider.
- Information service to help people make choices about health and care.
Role of Local Authorities:
- to ensure local HealthWatch organisations are successful and to commission them to provide services to the local community.
- to fund the work of local HealthWatch organisations and to contract support to help them carry out their work.
- to ensure that the activities and support for local HealthWatch organisations are effective and value for money.
- In the event of under-performance, the local authority will be able to intervene and, if necessary re-tender the contract to support the work of HealthWatch.
- to ensure that the focus of local HealthWatch activities is representative of the local community.
- local authorities will also assume responsibility for funding complaints advocacy and will be able to commission this through local HealthWatch or another suitable provider.
- Each local authority area will also have a Health and Wellbeing Board, the role of which will be to scrutinise local decisions.
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