The future of Healthwatch: an update

Healthwatch Trafford are happy to announce that the abolition of Healthwatch (both local and national) has been overturned. Baroness Merron will be writing formally to the House of Commons to have this part of the Health Bill withdrawn, and the Secretary of State has accepted this.

We had overwhelming support from the House of Lords where speaker after speaker praised us and the work we do; all of the campaigning that Healthwatch and others have done across the country has borne fruit! The Healthwatch in Greater Manchester network has worked tirelessly over recent months, developing what a ‘good’ Healthwatch should look like. We are very grateful to Trafford health and care leaders and staff for supporting us through this difficult time, particularly when NHS staff have themselves being going through NHS Reforms. 

There is a lot of work to be undertaken over the coming months, both in GM and nationally: our statutory role is to be strengthened, and a National Quality Framework developed possibly on the lines of the one we successfully completed a couple of years ago. Local Authorities will have a statutory duty to take account of this new framework when commissioning Healthwatch in the future. 

The Department of Health has set up a newly created team to gather evidence from all sources and draw out priorities for government. Healthwatch England will be specifically tasked at looking at our national Healthwatch priorities. 

We are delighted to be able to continue our work with the Trafford community, and hope to be able to share more soon.