Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment they have made of the potential impact of abolishing local Healthwatch organisations on constituents’ ability to raise concerns about health and social care services.

The abolition of Healthwatch England and the transfer of its functions and the changes to Local Healthwatch will require primary legislation. The timing of this is subject to the will of Parliament and will happen when parliamentary time allows. A full Impact Assessment, including an Equality Impact Assessment, will be produced and published on the Government website when legislation is introduced in Parliament.

We are proposing to place responsibility for the health function of local Healthwatch (LHW) with integrated care boards (ICBs). ICBs will ensure the functions are incorporated in provider organisations alongside existing patient engagement work such as Patient Participation Groups. Local authorities will be responsible for the social care LHW functions.