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Project

Learning from Healthwatch

  • 4-min read

The government has announced plans to close Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch services. 

Following this announcement, we are working in partnership with Healthwatch England to explore what can be learned from the Healthwatch model and what these changes mean for how health and care systems will hear from those who use their services.  

About Healthwatch

Healthwatch England is an independent national organisation.  Its role is to ensure that the voices of patients and the public are heard by decision-makers, using feedback to influence improvements in care and providing advice to health and care system leaders. Healthwatch England also supports patients to access information and advice about health and care.

The Local Healthwatch network is made up of over 150 Local Healthwatch organisations. These organisations gather people’s views and experiences of local health and social care services, share these with commissioners and providers, and make recommendations for improvement. They also promote public involvement in service design, provide advice and information about accessing care, and feed local insights to Healthwatch England to influence national policy.

Healthwatch England supports the work of Local Healthwatch organisations and escalates their findings and advice to the Care Quality Commission as well as to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England. 

About the project 

The government has announced plans to close Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch services. The decision follows the Dash review and is part of broader reforms outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan. The government plans to transfer the responsibilities of Healthwatch England to DHSC, and the responsibilities of Local Healthwatch organisations to NHS Integrated Care Boards and local authorities.  

In light of these changes, we are working in partnership with Healthwatch England to explore what can be learned from the Healthwatch model, including what has worked well, what the challenges have been and what, if anything, could be done differently in the future. The work will consider what this learning means for the future of patient experience and how health and care systems will hear from those who use their services.  

The King’s Fund and Healthwatch England are jointly funding this work.  

What we're doing

Through this project, we will: 

  • Explore what can be learnt from the Healthwatch model, including the challenges and the successes. 

  • Explore the impact that Healthwatch England and Local Healthwatch organisations have had. 

  • Share these learnings with key stakeholders.

  • Facilitate constructive conversations with key stakeholders about what the new national patient experience function should look like.   

To do this, we will:

  • Conduct an evidence scan to capture the history and impact of Healthwatch England and the network of local Healthwatch organisations, including how and why they were established, how structures and functions have developed over time and what impact they have had (led by Healthwatch England).

  • Conduct a small number of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders (led by The King’s Fund).

  • Facilitate an online workshop with mix of representatives from Local Healthwatch organisations (led by The King’s Fund).

  • Facilitate an in-person workshop with a wide range of key stakeholders, including national and local representatives (led by The King’s Fund).

  • Publish a short written output drawing together key findings and recommendations for those involved in designing and implementing the new patient experience function (led by The King’s Fund).

Key milestones

Work started in September 2025 and the written output is expected to be published in early 2026.

Project team