There will be two levels: Healthwatch England at a national level and local Healthwatch at the local level.
Healthwatch is part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 which was given Royal accent on the 27th March 2012. It will be the new consumer champion for both health and adult social care.
The aim is that Local Healthwatch will be an independent organisation with the ability to influence and be an effective voice of the public, giving citizens and communities a stronger voice to influence and challenge how health and social care services are provided within North East Lincolnshire.
The local HealthWatch has to be in place no later then April 2013, but until Local Healthwatch is in place the Local Involvement Network (LINk) will continue to operate.
For more information on Healthwatch England and Local Healthwatch in general, visit the Department of Health website.
Follow-up stakeholder feedback event
As a follow up to the initial stakeholder event in April 2012, we held a stakeholder feedback event on Wednesday 19th September 2012. The aim of this event was to provide stakeholders with a summary of the findings from the first event, update attendees on the progress since that event, and provide an update on the next steps.
Please see the attached presentation on the right of the page, for more details of the event.
Initial stakeholder event
On the 20th April 2012, the first public Healthwatch North East Lincolnshire stakeholder event was held, the objectives of were:
- Informing attendees of what the Government require from a Local Healthwatch
- Find out from the attendees how they see Healthwatch North East Lincolnshire working
- Use the views of attendees to help shape Healthwatch North East Lincolnshire, and
- Obtain the involvement of the community in helping get Healthwatch North East Lincolnshire in place
Please see the attached presentation and feedback gathered from the workshops on the right of the page, for more details of the event.