The Government last week launched a public consultation seeking views on the membership of Healthwatch England.

Healthwatch England will be the ‘consumers champion’ under the NHS reforms. It will be what they call a ‘statutory committee’ of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and is expected to be up and running by the autumn. Many, including National Voices, have argued that it should be an independent body.

In the consultation,the Department of Health asks for views on how large the Healthwatch committee should be, how people should be appointed to it(including whether they should be elected), and what sort of experience they should have. It says that they should have a background in active patient and public involvement.

The document is quite helpful in describing where Healthwatch fits into the overall scheme of things. There will be local Healthwatches as well. And a key issue will be ensuring that these local bodies form a strong network. Also, that they have a strong link to the England committee. We have singularly failed to achieve this aim with previous incarnations of patient and public involvement forums, beginning with Community Health Councils in the 80/90s or their successors including ‘LINKS.’

As an aside, you might wish to read Angela Rippon’s interview in the Sunday Times today. She is now a Vice-Chair of the Patients Association (paywall).