On Friday, Ministers announced that they want to scrap Healthwatch, the statutory patients’ and public watchdog for the NHS and social care.
This is my response as Chair of Healthwatch Birmingham and Solihull:
Successive governments have said they want patients and the public to have a real say in the care they receive.
But the patient voice can only be meaningful if it is independent of the system, not part of it.
That independence has always been part of Healthwatch’s DNA and it is precisely what Ministers appear to be trying to dismantle.
If reports over the weekend are accurate, Ministers want Healthwatch England’s role to be carried out by a senior manager in the Department of Health and Social Care – in other words by someone who is part of the very system that Healthwatch is in business to monitor and hold accountable.
Scrapping Healthwatch England is dangerous and dismantling local Healthwatches like ours would be just as damaging.
Birmingham and Solihull Healthwatch has played a central role in exposing management failure and toxic culture at the biggest hospital trust in the Midlands. Public scrutiny and the independence of our voice have been crucial in forcing change on a closed system. Without that pressure, it would have been too easy for NHS management to avoid tackling the issue.
Year in, year out, we listen to patients – whether about it’s about social care commissioned by local authorities or issues with NHS services, like trying to get a GP appointment, delays in A&E, waiting lists for cancer treatment or getting mental health support when it is needed.
We are regularly told that the in-depth reports we produce are valued by hospitals and providers of social care.
We are constructive partners in improving care across Birmingham and Solihull. But our independence empowers us to also speak out publicly when we need to – whether it is about NHS services or social care commissioned by local authorities.
Healthwatch was set up by Act of Parliament, and it will be a sad day if Ministers now bring in new laws to silence the independent voice of patients and the public.
Within the Birmingham and Solihull area, we hope that Health and Social Care commissioners will recognize the importance of retaining an independent patient voice locally, whatever system ministers establish at national level.
In addition, it is deeply disappointing that Ministers chose to release news of such a fundamental change late on a Friday afternoon, without any notice, and to do so in such a piecemeal fashion.
All around the country, Healthwatch staff and volunteers work tirelessly on behalf of patients, to support communities and to tackle inequalities in health and social care.
The first many of them knew about the government’s plan to close down Healthwatch was when they heard about it in the media.
They are not statistics. They are people. They deserve better than to be cast into uncertainty – both for themselves and the patients they serve – by the way Ministers handled last Friday’s announcement.
