A new health watchdog has been set up in Brighton and Hove as part of the government’s NHS reforms.
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove takes over from the Brighton and Hove Local Involvement Network (LINk) which was set five years ago.
The role of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove is to
- Obtain the views of people about local health and care services and make those views known to those involved in commissioning, providing and monitoring health and care services
- Promote and enable the involvement of local people in the commissioning and provision of local health and care services and how they are monitored
- Recommend investigation or special review of services, either via Healthwatch England, or directly to the Care Quality Commission
- Provide advice, signposting and information to the public about accessing health and care services and making informed choices about which services to use
- Write reports and make recommendations about how health and care services could or should be improved and ask for responses from providers
- Play a role in the preparation of the statutory Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies on which local commissioning decisions will be made
- Provide an Independent NHS Complaints Advocacy Service which empowers anyone who wishes to resolve a complaint about healthcare commissioned and/or provided by the NHS in England
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove started life on Monday (1 April).
Brighton and Hove City Council has awarded the contract for Healthwatch Brighton and Hove to the Community and Voluntary Sector Forum (CVSF) which was the support organisation for the LINk.
