East Wight MP Joe Robertson has criticised Government plans to abolish Healthwatch, warning the changes could leave health leaders “marking their own homework”.
Mr Robertson has raised concerns over proposals contained in the NHS Modernisation Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, which would see the independent Healthwatch network abolished as part of wider NHS reforms.
The Government says the changes are designed to streamline the health service by removing organisations that duplicate work. Under the plans, responsibilities currently carried out by Healthwatch would be taken on by Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).
Healthwatch was established in 2012 to gather patient feedback and represent the views of service users, particularly when concerns are raised about healthcare provision. There are 153 local branches across England, including Healthwatch Isle of Wight.
As a member of the cross-party Bill Committee examining the legislation line by line, Mr Robertson questioned Professor David Croisdale-Appleby, Chair of Healthwatch England, during an oral evidence session.
Mr Robertson said:
“The local Healthwatch on the Isle of Wight has proven invaluable in amplifying patient voice, gathering patient experience and helping those who are democratically elected – MPs and councillors – to hold health leaders to account.
“My concern about that function being folded into the ICB is that the ICB has often been on the sharp end of critical analysis by Healthwatch, and so the ICB will end up marking its own homework.
Article continues below this advertisement “We will lose the critical voice that has, I am sure, led to better decision making. How can we possibly resolve that fundamental issue, if Healthwatch is folded into ICBs?”
Responding, Professor Croisdale-Appleby agreed that independence was essential.
“You make a pivotal and focused point. The independence is vital, not just because of the quality of what Healthwatch produces, but because of the confidence that it gives people that they are speaking to an independent organisation.
“In the background, some communities distrust being critical about the care that they receive in case it rebounds on them. If the same organisation is responsible for marking its own homework, as you put it, that problem will be much greater than it has been in the past.”
Following the session, Mr Robertson said he remained sceptical that the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board could provide the same level of independent scrutiny as a dedicated Island Healthwatch body.
He added:
“I am deeply sceptical of the idea that the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB can give the same independent weight to patient voices on the Island as a dedicated Isle of Wight Healthwatch, especially when that patient voice is critical of the ICB itself.
“Let us not forget it is the same ICB that proposed to defund Mountbatten Hospice which Healthwatch were instrumental in stopping by providing reliable independent evidence.”
