Healthwatch Brighton and Hove is one of several patient and professional watchdogs to be scrapped by Health Secretary Wes Streeting in an announcement published by the Daily Mail today (Saturday 28 June).
The Labour cabinet minister said that patients with complaints would have to take them up with the relevant NHS trust although many have turned to Healthwatch when trusts have not responded adequately.
Mr Streeting wants more do-ers and fewer checkers in a move that, nationally, could save 250 million a year.
There was no estimate of how many more cases could end up being taken by lawyers instead.
But earlier this year the Department of Health and Social Care said that it had set aside £58.2 billion to cover the potential costs of clinical negligence claims for incidents before April last year.
And previously Healthwatch Brighton and Hove has been praised by hospital trust bosses for making recommendations that have improved patient care and, in doing so, saved public money.
It also helped to promote a key evidence-gathering survey last year that led to the best ever take up for the NHS locally and public health officials at Brighton and Hove City Council. Had the survey been advertised commercially, the cost of necessary publicity would have been significantly higher.
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove chief executve Alan Boyd said that he was “shocked and hugely disappointed by today’s news” that the Healthwatch network was to be closed down.
Mr Boyd said: “My initial concern is for my dedicated, hardworking staff team and wonderful volunteers who have worked so tirelessly to act on behalf of local residents over the last 12 years.
“But I am also deeply concerned about the loss of independent voice and ability to hold services to account.
“We will continue to deliver our core services with professionalism and integrity – nothing changes until the legal process is completed which will take some time.
“We remain committed to delivering for the people of Brighton and Hove and across Sussex.
“We send our thoughts and support to the entire Healthwatch network at this difficult time.”
Under the headline “Bonfire of the health quangos”, the Mail said: “Hundreds of NHS quangos employing 7,000 staff will be axed or merged under plans to cut wasteful spending and bureaucracy.
“Wes Streeting aims to simplify regulation, which has failed to prevent tragedies or drive improvements.
“As well as the Health Secretary creating clearer lines of accountability, the public will be asked to flag emerging issues by submitting reviews after each appointment through the NHS App.
“The scores and comments will be used to help officials to identify poorly performing providers.
“Responses will also be made publicly available, so that patients can decide where to have treatment.
“There are currently 150 regulatory bodies assessing care quality and providing guidelines to staff.
“But the Department of Health and Social Care describes the number of recommendations issued as ‘overwhelming’.
“It means managers and frontline workers risk missing critical information, leading to repeated failings in care homes, hospitals and GP surgeries.
“The government will abolish many of those organisations – including the Health Services Safety Investigations Body, the National Guardian’s Office and Healthwatch England. It will also close Commissioning Support Units and abolish Integrated Care Partnerships.
“In total, Mr Streeting’s ‘bonfire of NHS quangos’ will abolish 201 bodies, with budgets of more than a quarter of a billion pounds.
“The Care Quality Commission will take responsibility for overseeing safety while the National Quality Board will provide a single set of care quality standards.
“It comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that he plans to abolish NHS England, with its work moved in to the Department of Health and Social Care.
“Details of the further cuts will be unveiled as part of Labour’s Ten Year Health Plan, to be published later this week.
“The move has been shaped by the findings of a review into patient safety by Dr Penny Dash, the chairman of NHS England.
“Mr Streeting told the Daily Mail: ‘Over the past decade and a half, an overly complex system of healthcare regulation has been left to spiral out of control. Our Ten Year Health Plan will tear through this tangled web of bureaucracy, cut wasteful spending and reinvest the savings in frontline care.
“’Our reforms will cut unnecessary bureaucracy and liberate staff to deliver safe, timely care for patients.’
“Professor Nicola Ranger, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘Protecting patients has to be the priority and not just a drive for efficiency.’”
Professor Ranger was formerly a member of the hospital trust board that runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton.
If government didn’t keep creating QUANGOs to avoid direct responsibility it wouldn’t create chaos by taking direct responsibility and absorbing functions and assuming responsibility itself.
But ICBs are being cut by 50% as it is, so do they have the resources to take on this role -I doubt it.
Healthwatch are also supposed to be a body to support patient voice from an independent perspective, that’s not something that can be simply picked up by the Department of Health and Social Care.
There’s definitely some change needed when it comes to the structure of the NHS, but our health trust is in crisis and under police investigations, removing watchdogs and red tape feels like a wrong move to me.
Unfortunately the adage of cutting one’s cloth to suit one’s pocket is applicable here. There are too many satellites orbiting around the core of health provision. If that was done right then many would not be needed.
Bill makes an important point, and it’s actually more severe than that. It’s not just that ICBs are being cut by 50%; they’re being abolished entirely. The dismantling of NHS England will leave a clear and predictable gap in healthcare oversight and provision, especially in places like Brighton. That gap needs proper mitigation, not more erosion.
We absolutely need organisations like Healthwatch. They don’t just provide scrutiny; they generate the evidence we need to target healthcare more effectively, identify gaps, and drive improvements.
And a more effective NHS is ultimately a more cost-efficient one.
My experience is that Healthwatch are not effective in ‘holding to account’ failing health services. In fact, no one seems to be – local politicians, MPs, CQC, health ombudsman, charities…Even the police investigation into general surgery and neurology has taken years and is nowhere near to conclusion.
My experience is that they provide a lot of useful local data and research. That insight is an invaluable piece in holding healthcare to account.
Sadly, Healthwatch doesn’t have the teeth that many CHCs and LINks had. It just seems like an excuse for some admin/researchers to be paid to sit in an office, little real engagement and passion about patient and public engagement. It’s better to have nothing in place than pay lip service.