Health professionals praised an independent watchdog that faces abolition as part of plans announced by the Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
Members of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board said that the organisation had given people a voice and provided important perspectives on a variety of issues.
Labour councillor Faiza Baghoth, who chairs the board, said: “Since its inception in 2012, Healthwatch Brighton and Hove has been an independent voice for people living in the city, gathering patient feedback to understand the lived experiences of people who use health and social care services and using this to influence debate around local service delivery.
“We need to ensure that this vital work is not lost with these changes.”
The Health and Social Care Secretary plans to scrap Healthwatch, handing its watchdog role to integrated care boards (ICBs) and councils.
Sussex ICB chair Stephen Lightfoot said that he wanted to put on the record his praise for Healthwatch as he spoke about the effects of NHS reform.
Mr Lightfoot said: “I’ve got to say I’m disappointed and I’d like to formally record my thanks to everything our Healthwatch partners have done and also, importantly, their volunteers. because there are many volunteers who work for Healthwatch
“Everything done with patients and providing vital insight has helped to improve our services here in Sussex.
“There’s been support for improving access to GP services here in Brighton and Hove and the recent award-winning campaign around the development of a new non-emergency transport service across Sussex.”
The independent chair of the Brighton and Hove Safeguarding Adults Board, Seona Douglas, also praised Healthwatch’s contribution in helping to bring people’s voices to the table.
She said: “I would like to express my sadness at the proposals for Healthwatch because certainly, in Brighton and Hove, Healthwatch has contributed significantly to the board and about listening and helping us with the voice of the people.
“That’s been one of the major pieces of work we’re trying to engage with – to hear from people about their safeguarding experiences so, as a partnership, we can consider those and make sure we are meeting those needs.”
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove chief executive Alan Boyd said that the service would not suddenly stop.
He said: “We are incredibly disappointed and we do think it’s a rather short-sighted decision.
“The Healthwatch network is coming together to challenge the decision as best we can.
“We’re not challenging the loss of Healthwatch per se. We’re challenging the loss of independent services and the scrutiny that we provide.”
That cording to nhs this is one of 201 organisations set to be scrapped by the nhs. How many of these quangos are left?
Each health watch area costs over £200k a year. According to the local health watch report they attend 396 meetings in the year. Presumably most of these meetings involved healthcare professionals.
Less quangos= more money for frontline services.
Losing Healthwatch is a significant loss for the area. Mike says it’s a saving to deliver frontline services; however, I would gently challenge him with this: “How do you know where you need to provide frontline services, or know if they are working, or if they are being effective, without the data provided by organisations like Healthwatch?”