What is happening with Healthwatch?
What do we know?
A Health Reform Bill, including the abolition of both national and local Healthwatch, and NHS England, is expected to be introduced to Parliament in May 2026.
New bills are proposed, debated, and need to be approved to gain Royal Assent before they become law. The Health Reform Bill is expected to gain Royal Assent by April 2027
Funding for Healthwatch from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) currently runs until 31 March 2027, followed by a short transition period of around 6-8 weeks, to move from Healthwatch to any new arrangements.
On the closure of Healthwatch, it is intended that local Healthwatch statutory functions are to be delegated. Health functions will pass to the NHS Integrated Care Boards. Care functions will pass to Local Authorities.
What is still to be decided?
There is some uncertainty as to whether the above timelines will stay in place.
How patient voice continues to be heard when Healthwatch functions are passed to local NHS and governmental organisations.
At Healthwatch Warwickshire it is ‘business as usual’ as we continue to:
- Visit community settings to listen to individual’s experiences of health and care in person.
- Use our statutory ‘Enter & View’ power to visit health and care premises to hear, and see, how people experience the service.
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Work with colleagues across all parts of the health and care system to ensure patient voice is heard.
We are: Independent, Trusted, Transparent, Community Led, Accountable.
The impact of Healthwatch Warwickshire
By listening to local people, including people from all communities, analysing the feedback we hear, acting to drive change and influence decisions, and partnering with local organisations we have helped improve health and care for people across Warwickshire.
To ensure patient voice continues to make a positive difference we plan to introduce ‘Transition Panels’ to help organisations across Warwickshire prepare for what comes next.
Email us for more information on ‘Healthwatch Warwickshire Transition Panels’:
