Summer Health and Resilience

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

I welcome the Secretary of State to her place and thank her for her statement. The Government’s reorganisation of the NHS will see the abolition of Healthwatch England and all the other local watchdogs, including Healthwatch Somerset. At a time when NHS services in Somerset are in great need of improvement, how confident is the Secretary of State that she will be aware of patients’ views without Healthwatch Somerset?

[Yvette Cooper]

I take very seriously the importance of patient voice in local health services, and in ensuring that that local patient voice can be heard. That is why I have said that we will look further at the provisions around Healthwatch and what happens in local areas to ensure that there is proper accountability and strong patient voice. We will do that before those issues are discussed in the House of Lords, because I take them seriously. On the overall reforms, we know that the current system has not been working, that there has been too much duplication and that there is a legacy from the damaging 2012 reforms. What we want to see now is a much more streamlined and effective system that gets support to the frontline.