Stakeholders and the public are being asked to contribute to the development of the Healthwatch England membership regulations.
Healthwatch England will be a national consumer champion that enables the collective views of the people who use health and social care services to influence national policy, advice and guidance.
This consultation asks questions on the key issues in relation to the membership of Healthwatch England that the Department has heard from stakeholders.
These issues are:
- the number of the members
- suitability for membership
- the process for appointing members
- the period of time a member should be appointed.
The Consultation on the regulations for Healthwatch England Membership will help ensure that the public have a strong national presence to represent their views and help drive up improvements across the NHS.
The deadline for comments is Friday 2 March.
Healthwatch England, which is due to be established in October 2012, will be a statutory committee of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and it is intended that the Chair of Healthwatch England will be a member of the CQC Board. Healthwatch England will have its own identity within the CQC, and will have support from the CQC’s expertise and infrastructure.
Aim to have as many members as possible,hopefully the PPGs will in time develop enough to put forward representatives. Those who have contributed to LINKs should not be ignored and LINKs has made great strides in having contact at local level with concerned local People and with many so called hard to reach groups. It would be shameful if all that work were to be abandoned and for HW to start all over again.
Not to mention the wasted cost over many years along with the effort and work done by thes Groups.
A forum on the topic of the Healthwatch England membership regulations has opened on the online Community of Practice – http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk
Feel free to post any questions you may have, and the team will be posting up daily responses. The forum will remain open until the end of the consultation, on the 2nd March 2012.
Thanks, the Healthwatch team