A new report from The King’s Fund has been published, which looks at the need for a patient voice that is independent of government and services, while examining what can be learned from the Healthwatch model, in the wake of its abolition in June 2025.
Since 2013, Healthwatch has operated nationally and locally to gather the views of people using the health and care system in England. Its primary role has been to support improvements to services by reporting people’s experiences, which it has done by working with communities across England, collecting feedback on health and care services, and sharing this information with government bodies and local systems to inform policy and service development.
On 27 June 2025, the government announced plans to close Healthwatch England and the network of 153 local Healthwatch organisations. In line with recommendations from the Dash review of patient safety, the government plans to transfer the strategic functions of Healthwatch England to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the statutory functions of local Healthwatch organisations to NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) on health care and local authorities for views on adult social care.
In light of these planned changes, the King's Fund research explored what can be learned from the Healthwatch model, including what has worked well, what the challenges have been and how this can inform the government’s planned changes to how patient and service user experiences are collected and used. The King’s Fund reviewed existing evidence, conducted interviews and carried out two workshops with local and national stakeholders.
The final report, 'The future of patient voice: learning from the Healthwatch model’, outlines the following findings:
- Healthwatch’s independence has ensured it’s been seen as credible by communities and allowed scrutiny of issues the health and care system may overlook.
- Strong local relationships – especially with people less likely to engage with statutory bodies and those affected by health inequalities – were key to the model’s strength.
- Healthwatch has collected significant volumes of qualitative and quantitative data since it was first set up, helping the health and care system capture emerging issues that matter to patients, service users, and local communities.
- The organisation’s limited statutory powers mean it can report on issues but cannot hold the health and care system to account for addressing them.
The King’s Fund’s view is that whatever replaces Healthwatch must build on the core conditions that enabled it to have a positive impact: a voice independent of government and services; the capacity to gather unsolicited, varied and rich community insight, including from seldom heard groups; and a geographical scale that supports both local insight and system or national-level influence. It concludes that any future model must enhance – not weaken – the system’s capacity to hear, understand and respond to people’s experiences.
Responding to the King’s Fund's report, Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said: “The findings of the King’s Fund’s report reinforce many of the concerns we raised that at the government’s decision to close Healthwatch England and its local network.
“In particular, the report highlights the critical importance of independence, strong local relationships, and the ability to gather rich insight from diverse and often underrepresented communities: strengths that we have seen first-hand in our work alongside Healthwatch.
“It also echoes our view that local, trusted patient voice infrastructure is not easily replaced. As the government reshapes the health and care landscape, it must ensure that genuine patient partnership is enhanced, not diminished, in the process. Without this, the ambitions for greater ‘patient power’ at the heart of the 10-Year Health Plan for England will be difficult to realise. The voices of patients must remain at the heart of the journey towards a fairer, safer, and more responsive NHS.”
