FAQs
What is Healthwatch England?
Healthwatch England is the independent national champion for users of health and social care services. They make sure that those running services, and the government, put people at the heart of care. They support us in finding out what people want to to advocate for services that meet local communities’ needs.
Is Healthwatch part of the NHS?
No. Healthwatch is an independent champion, entirely separate from the NHS. While we work closely with the NHS to make sure that your views are considered in any decisions they make, we are not accountable to them.
How is Healthwatch funded?
All local authorities are required to commission a local Healthwatch in their region. They are all provided with the funds to do this by the Department of Health.
How many local Healthwatch are there?
There are currently 148 local Healthwatch, covering every region of England. They sit beneath the national umbrella organisation of Healthwatch England.
Is local Healthwatch accountable to Healthwatch England?
Heathwatch England provides national leadership, guidance, and support by way of advice and assistance to local Healthwatch. We submit our reports to them and use their branding, but we operate independently.
Is Healthwatch a complaints advocacy service?
While would like to hear about your experiences of health and social care services – bad or good – we are not a complaints advocacy service, and cannot deal with individual complaints. If you wish to file a formal complaint, we do have a handy guide that explains how to do so.
Is Healthwatch here to give health or medical advice?
Signposting is part of our statutory duty. We cannot personally offer you advice on medical problems, dietary requirements or the like, but we are happy to point you in the direction of the people who can.
Does Healthwatch only deal with healthcare providers?
No. Despite the implications of our name, Healthwatch Telford and Wrekin covers social care providers as well as healthcare providers, so please feel free to share your experiences of social care services with us!
What do you do with the feedback you receive?
Your feedback is very valuable. We use it to represent the people of Telford and Wrekin in the various meetings we go to, such as the Health and Wellbeing Board, or the Future Fit programme board. We also use it to build up an idea of any trends that may have developed in specific care premises, and this helps us to inform our Enter & View programme.
And since we adopted the Feedback Centre platform, your feedback can now be seen by the whole community, and can help people to decide for themselves where the best care is being delivered.
