Yesterday the Department of Health & Social Care announced that the planned abolition of Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch organisations including Healthwatch South Tyneside had been scrapped.
There was a huge outcry in July 2025 when the Health and Social Care Bill proposed the transfer of their duties to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and local councils. Concerns were raised about how the independent voice of patients and social care users would be represented in future by MPs across the political spectrum, nursing unions and health think tanks.
But yesterday the Department of Health & Social Care said the Health Bill clauses relating to both the abolition of local Healthwatch and Healthwatch England are to be withdrawn.
Announcing the change, Health and Social Care Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Patients need a voice in our NHS. I’ve always been clear on the importance of people and communities having a say in local services, and that’s why I said I would review all reforms in this area.
“We will retain Healthwatch England and Local Healthwatch, while strengthening them to ensure patient voices are heard and can influence real change across health and care services.”
The reprieve means Healthwatch South Tyneside will continue to be funded to fulfil its role – listening to your feedback, engaging with people across our communities, understanding your experiences and using your voice to help shape and improve local health and social care services.
In a statement, the Board of Directors at Healthwatch South Tyneside said: “Despite the huge uncertainty that we have faced over the past 15 months, our staff and volunteers have continued to work diligently on behalf of patients in the borough, publishing a series of detailed reports highlighting the improvements local users of health and care services want to see.
“These have included visits to eight specialist care homes where we spoke to residents and their families and staff, hearing from young people about their mental health, reviewing arrangements for inpatient hospital discharge and looking at the rollout of additional pharmacy services.
“This is vital work which is regularly recognised by the commissioners of local health and care services as having a key input to future service design. I’m delighted that the Government has listened to the clear message from the sector and decided to not only retain Healthwatch but further strengthen the network.”
The review also received a warm welcome from across the health sector.
Director of Policy and Research at the Health Foundation Hugh Alderwick said: “The Government is right to reverse course on its plans to abolish Healthwatch England and Local Healthwatch organisations.
“This will avoid yet more unnecessary disruption in the NHS and means patients retain an independent voice to influence how the health system works. The NHS has a mixed record of listening to patients – so it’s right that government is also using the bill to strengthen its own arrangements to hear and act on patients’ views.”
The Royal College of Nursing said the health secretary had “rightfully listened” to concerns raised by nursing staff. Director of Policy Amber Jabbal said: “This would’ve been a significant loss to the patient voice within the NHS and to patients’ ability to hold health and care services to account.”
NHS Alliance chief executive Sir Ciarán Devane said that the initial criticism of the scrapping of Healthwatch had proved there was “considerable support for transparent and independent regulation”.
Nuffield Trust chief executive Thea Stein said: “Abolishing Healthwatch would have thrown away the independence that gave it credibility, without doing anything to address the reasons the NHS often don’t listen.
“It was the wrong solution to a real problem. Healthwatch has played a valuable role in making it more difficult for the NHS to ignore patients’ often frustrating experience of using it. This retreat needs to be followed by a cultural shift away from a health service where patients’ voices are all too often at the bottom of a long and impossible list.”
Healthwatch England said that at a time of significant pressure and reform across health and care services, it remains important that the voices of patients, families and carers are heard and acted upon.
Acting Chief Executive Chris McCann said: “This decision recognises the vital role that an independent service user champion plays in helping NHS and social care services to understand people’s experiences and bringing about improvements to the care people receive.
“Local Healthwatch organisations have continued to hear from hundreds of thousands of people about their experiences of health and social care services, helping policymakers, commissioners and providers make better decisions for patients, service users and communities.
“The Government’s decision to retain and reform the Healthwatch model ensures that people will continue to have an independent organisation they can turn to for advice, advocacy and representation.”
See the full Healthwatch England response here: https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/news/2026-10-28/healthwatch-england-and-local-healthwatch-organisations-be-retained
