Healthwatch Information

What is healthwatch and why should we engage with them?

Healthwatch are the national consumer champion in health and care. We have been given significant statutory powers to ensure the voice of the consumer is strengthened and heard by those who commission, deliver and regulate health and care services.

As a pharmacy team it is essential that you engage with healthwatch, they are the stategic voice for your customers and they investigate and relay information to commissioners about the quality and delivery of care.  Engagement will mean you can support this important part of information gathering and true partnership will offer support to yourselves as providers.

They champion the needs of children, young people and adults

Our job is to champion the needs of children, young people and adults. We also know that if we can make things better for the most vulnerable in our communities, we will all benefit.

 Work covers health and care

Many people expect that health and care services will work together to meet their needs. This simply doesn’t happen. Covering both health and care allows us to see how providers interact with each other and where their system fails to join up different aspects of an individual’s care.

They say where change is most needed

Sometimes we give advice formally, using our powers to raise issues of concern or where we feel we, or any local Healthwatch, are not getting an adequate response. Often, we work together with partners to influence their thinking at an early stage and to help them get the design of services right from the start.

We are a consumer champion

This means we always start with people. We understand what people need and lobby for change on behalf of consumers. We are ambitious – our role is to say where change is most needed. But we are realistic and provide solutions that improve services for consumers.

We have a national perspective fed by local insight

We draw together people’s experiences of health and care, expertise from the voluntary sector and evidence from local Healthwatch to establish a national picture of what works and what doesn’t, regardless of where in England, who pays the bill or what part of the health and care system is involved.

We have strong statutory powers

The Health and Social Care Act formalises the relationship between Healthwatch England, the Secretary of State, NHS England, Care Quality Commission, Monitor and English local authorities.

We have a unique power to advise this wide range of organisations. Our ultimate recourse is the Secretary of State. We have the power not only to report on the key issues that affect people who use services, but to expect that those in control respond to us. They don’t have to agree, but they have to publicly tell us what they are going to do to respond to our advice.

Our mission

We are the national consumer champion for health and care. We achieve this by:

Understanding what matters most to consumers, especially those least included, by always starting with their needs and rights.

Influencing those who have the power to change design and delivery of services so they better meet they better meet the needs and rights of users.

Leading the Healthwatch network to ensure their local insight has national impact and our national insight has local impact.

Our strategic priorities until 2015

In our first three years we will be particularly focused on:

• Identifying concerns and risks and challenging others to take action
• Advancing consumer rights and responsibilities
• Promoting the design and delivery of services around the needs of a person
• Developing the potential of the Healthwatch network

Inclusive

• We start with people first.
• We work for children, young people and adults.
• We work across health and care.
• We work for everyone, not just those who shout the loudest.

 

Influential

• We set the agenda and make change happen.
• We are responsive. We take what we learn and translate it into action.
• We are innovative and creative. We know that we can’t fix things by sticking to the status quo.
• We work with our network of local Healthwatch to make an impact both locally and nationally.

 

Independent

• We are independent and act on behalf of all consumers.
• We listen to consumers and speak loudly on their behalf.
• We challenge those in power to design and deliver better health and care services.
• We are not afraid to point out when things have gone wrong.

 

Credible

• We value knowledge.
• We seek out data and intelligence to challenge assumptions with facts.
• We celebrate and share good practice in health and care.
• We holds ourselves to the highest standards.

 

Collaborative

• We keep the debate positive and we get things done.
• We work in partnership with the public, health and care sector, voluntary and community sector.
• We learn from specialists and experts, building on what is already known, not going over old ground.