Changes to Healthwatch: what it means for you

You might have seen headlines or heard people talking about these changes. We’ve also had people ask us directly whether we are closing and whether they will still be able to come to us. It is understandable that this has raised questions, so we want to explain clearly what is happening and what it means in practice.

What Healthwatch does

Healthwatch listens to people’s experiences of health and social care and makes sure those experiences are heard by the people running care.

People contact us when:

• something has not worked
• they are struggling to get an appointment
• they are not sure where to go for help

We also provide clear, practical information to help people understand their options and find their way through care.

Many people may never need to contact Healthwatch directly. But the feedback people share can help highlight problems with appointments, access to care, communication and support, and help shape improvements across health and social care.

Alongside this, we carry out more detailed work where we look at specific issues and build a clearer picture of what is happening across the county. This includes work on:

• access to GP, hospital and dental appointments
• changes to patient transport
• access to care in rural areas
• mental health and women’s health

Our recent work on health appointments looked at how small, practical adjustments can make a real difference to whether people are able to access care.

A big part of our role is going out into communities, not just waiting for people to come to us. We speak to people in places where they already are, including community venues, local groups and events.

This helps us hear from people whose experiences are not always shared, including:

• older and younger people
• people with long term health conditions
• autistic people and people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• people from ethnic minority communities
• people living in rural areas where travel can make access to care more difficult

What’s changing

Healthwatch is expected to close in its current form.

The Government has said it intends to change how people’s experiences of health and social care are gathered and used in the future. Responsibility for hearing about people’s experiences would instead sit within the organisations that plan and run care locally.

This would be a significant change to how people’s experiences of care are heard.

In North Yorkshire, responsibility would sit with:

• NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board for NHS care
• NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board for NHS care in Craven district (including Skipton)
• North Yorkshire Council for social care

These organisations could choose to carry out this work themselves, or ask another organisation to do it on their behalf.

Many people may never need to contact Healthwatch directly. But the feedback people share can help highlight problems with appointments, access to care, communication and support, and help shape improvements across health and social care.

Healthwatch organisations across England have raised concerns about the importance of keeping an independent public voice for health and social care.

One concern is that if organisations are responsible for reviewing feedback about their own services, it could create a risk of them “marking their own homework”.

There are also concerns that separating health and social care work could make it harder to understand people’s full experiences and identify wider inequalities.

What this means right now

These changes have not happened yet. Healthwatch is still here, and our work continues in the same way.

Right now:

• you can still contact us
• you can still share your experience
• you can still get help understanding your care

Any changes are unlikely to happen before April 2027.

While the overall direction has been set out, much of the detail is still being worked through, including how people will share their experiences in the future and what this will look like day to day at a local level.

Some details, including how existing insight and reports will be used in future, are still not clear.

What happens next

The Government is expected to publish a new Health Reform Bill, which is currently expected in May 2026. This is the legislation expected to include changes to Healthwatch and how people’s experiences of health and social care are heard in future.

As things become clearer, we will keep people updated and explain what any changes mean in plain English, focusing on what this means in practice rather than policy language.

Healthwatch organisations across England are preparing to brief Members of Parliament once the proposed legislation is published, with a focus on protecting independence and ensuring people continue to have an independent way to share their experiences of care.

While discussions continue nationally, our day to day work locally continues.

Every day, we continue to hear from people about long waits for appointments, confusion about where to go for help, and communication that is not always clear. We also hear where care works well and where staff have made a real difference.

That feedback is still being shared with those responsible for planning and delivering care, and it continues to shape change.

We are still here

We know that this kind of change can feel uncertain. Health and social care can already be difficult to navigate, and it is important that people know where they can go.

Right now, there is no gap. We are still here, still listening, and you can still come to us.

If you have used the NHS or those who provide social care and want to share your experience, we would like to hear from you. What you tell us helps show what is working, what is not, and where things need to improve.