'Scrapping health groups will silence patients'

Carrie Duran says Healthwatch groups speak on patients' behalf to make changes

Plans to abolish local Healthwatch groups could silence patient voices, an organisation fears.

Healthwatch was set up in 2012 to independently gather feedback from the public on local health and care services.

The government has announced proposals to scrap all 153 local boards across England and bring feedback in-house.

Carrie Duran, head of health and care programmes at Hull Community Voluntary Service (CVS), said scrapping the groups would take away the chance for vulnerable people to have a say.

Hull CVS holds the contracts for the four Healthwatch groups in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire.

Ms Duran said, currently, people could come to them anonymously to raise issues that could lead to systemic changes that help everybody.

However, there are concerns about what these government changes will now mean.

She added: "Our functions are going to be split between the NHS and the local authority and it's for them to decide how to use those functions, so potentially they would be marking their own homework and there would be a conflict of interest to be able to hold themselves to account."

Healthwatch North Lincolnshire helped improve healthcare access for disabled people

Lorna Fillingham, of Scunthorpe, who has a daughter with severe learning and physical disabilities, has worked with Healthwatch North Lincolnshire to raise awareness about the challenges some disabled women face when accessing healthcare.

She said she felt it would be a "mistake" to close the groups.

Ms Fillingham said: "It meant that I felt heard. It helped to identify issues in the local area that could be addressed by local healthcare.

"They (Healthwatch) did a good job in running focus groups with women who probably wouldn't get asked these questions on a normal basis."

A total of 131 Healthwatch groups have signed an open letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, urging him to reconsider these proposals.

In a statement, the Department for Health and Social Care acknowledged the successes of Heathwatch but said: "These changes will make things clearer for patients and give them a stronger voice.

"Through our 10 Year Health Plan we will bring patient care into the 21st century, using tech and AI to make checks more rigorous and efficient and ensure we never turn a blind eye to failure."

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