The Government has today announced that Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch organisations will be retained and strengthened so that patients' and social care service user experiences play a greater role in improving health and social care services.
Clauses in the Health Bill currently going through Parliament that relate to both the abolition of local Healthwatch and Healthwatch England are to be withdrawn. The decision means that your local Healthwatch services will continue listening to communities, highlighting health inequalities and working constructively with partners. Your feedback helps drive improvements in services and ensure local people's experiences inform decision-making.
The Government has indicated that further proposals are expected to strengthen patient and public voice within the health and care system.
Over the past 18 months, Healthwatch staff and volunteers across the country have continued to listen to communities, gather evidence about people's experiences, and work constructively with health and care organisations despite uncertainty about the future of the service.
Healthwatch Lancashire has continued to support local people by collecting feedback, helping individuals navigate health and care services, highlighting concerns, and ensuring that decision-makers hear directly from those who use services. During 2025/26, 3,179 residents connected with us about their experiences of health and social care services, helping to shape improvements in local care and influence decision-making across the NHS and social care.
Mark Pannone, Chair of People First’s Board of Trustees, said: "We are very pleased to hear that local Healthwatch organisations will be retained. This recognises the importance of independent patient voice and the vital role Healthwatch plays in ensuring that people's experiences help improve health and social care services.
“Every day, we hear from local people about what is working well and where improvements are needed. Their experiences provide valuable insight that can help services become more responsive, accessible and effective.
“We would like to thank our dedicated staff and volunteers who continued to listen and connect with patients and social care service users despite the anxiety and uncertainty around Healthwatch’s future over the last 18 months.
“We look forward to continuing this work and supporting the development of a stronger patient voice across the health and care system."
Chris McCann, Acting Chief Executive at Healthwatch England, said: "This decision recognises the vital role that an independent service user champion plays in helping NHS and social care services to understand people’s experiences and bringing about improvements to the care people receive. It also recognises the brilliant work done, and professionalism shown, by all the staff and volunteers working across Healthwatch during what has been a difficult time.
"At a time when health and care services face significant pressures and are undergoing substantial reform, it is more important than ever that the voices of patients, families and carers are heard clearly and acted upon. Reducing health inequalities must remain central to this work, ensuring that improvements benefit all communities and that people’s circumstances, needs and experiences are not overlooked in shaping the services they rely on.”
We look forward to learning more about the proposed reforms and continuing to work with local communities, health and care providers, commissioners and partners to improve services for everyone.