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Consultation on Healthwatch Leicestershire - This consultation has ended. Results will be published as soon as available

Introduction

The government is changing many parts of health and social care services in England. One of these changes is to have a new agency called Healthwatch set up in each area of the country. This is a requirement of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Healthwatch Leicestershire is being set up to give local people an effective voice in the health and social services in the county.

Some existing arrangements for involvement – known as LINks – will come to an end in April 2013. Healthwatch will start in April 2013 replacing many of the things LINks have been doing. Healthwatch will work alongside some other services which allow people to get involved; some of these existing services may need to change as Healthwatch develops.

Your Views

Leicestershire County Council wanted to know what you thought about our proposals for Healthwatch Leicestershire. We want to hear from local people, patients, users of care services and local groups or organisations.

The consultation took place from 1^st August 2012 to 19^th September 2012. The short timescale was due to the work needed to get Healthwatch set up by the required date of April 2013.

The comments we receive will be reported to the County Council’s Cabinet in October and will help shape how Healthwatch is set up. The results will be published on this page.

What is Healthwatch meant to do?

Healthwatch will be the new consumer champion for both health and social care. It will exist in two distinct forms – local Healthwatch and Healthwatch England at national level.

A local Healthwatch will be an independent organisation, able to employ its own staff and involve volunteers, so it can become the influential and effective voice of the public. It will have to keep accounts and make its annual reports available to the public.

The aim of local Healthwatch will be to give citizens and communities a stronger voice to influence and challenge how health and social care services are provided locally. It will enable people to share their views and concerns about services and help build a picture of where services are doing well and where they need to be improved.

Local Healthwatch will be able to alert the local Health and Wellbeing Board and Healthwatch England to issues or concerns they have.

Local Healthwatch must be inclusive and reflect the diversity of the community it serves. Its functions must be representative of local people and different users of services, including carers.

Local Healthwatch will build on the good practice of LINks, establishing relationships with local authorities, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), patient representative groups, the local voluntary and community sector and service providers to ensure it is inclusive and truly representative of the community it serves.