Healthwatch England launched - Turn2us

Healthwatch England - the new national, statutory consumer champion for health and social care in England - was launched on 1 October 2012.

Its role is to give a national voice to the key issues that affect people who use health and care services.

Network

Healthwatch England will be part of a new Healthwatch network from April 2013, giving people who use health and social care services a powerful voice locally and nationally.

The network is made of two connected levels:

Healthwatch England

Healthwatch England works at the national level to highlight issues/trends and influence policy. It is also helping set up local Healthwatch organisations and will provide leadership, support and advice so they can become strong ambassadors for local people.

Local Healthwatch

Local Healthwatch organisations will begin work in April 2013. There will be one covering each local authority area in England. They will take the experiences that people have of local care and use them to help shape local services.

Their role will include:

• having the power to enter and view services.
• influencing how services are set up and commissioned by having a seat on the local health and wellbeing board
• producing reports which influence the way services are designed and delivered.
• providing information, advice and support about local services.
• passing information and recommendations to Healthwatch England and the Care Quality Commission

Ensuring voices are heard

Through the network, Healthwatch England will make sure the voices of people who use health and social care services are heard by:

• the Secretary of State for Health
• the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• the NHS Commissioning Board (link opens in a new window)
• Monitor (link opens in a new window)
• Every local authority in England.
  

More information is available on the Healthwatch website (link opens in a new window)

Source: Department of Health (link opens in a new window)