Yvette Cooper has abandoned plans to abolish the NHS’s independent patient champion after an outcry from MPs across the political spectrum.
The health secretary has decided to keep and extend the role of Healthwatch England, which was due to be axed as part of the government’s reorganisation of the health service in England.
The move is the latest in a series of U-turns by ministers on core elements of the health bill since Andy Burnham became prime minister in July.
Sources at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said her decision to retain and strengthen Healthwatch and its network of branches illustrated her strong belief – which Burnham shares – in public and local accountability.
The rethink means Healthwatch England and its 150 branches will continue to collect and analyse feedback from patients about their experiences of the NHS and where its services need to improve. Its many supporters in parliament say the statutory body helps to identify areas where NHS care is lagging behind patient needs and hold the service to account.
Cooper told the Guardian: “Patients need a voice in our NHS. I’ve always been clear on the importance of people and communities having a say in local services and that’s why I said I would review all reforms in this area.
“We will retain Healthwatch England and Local Healthwatch, while strengthening them to ensure patient voices are heard and can influence real change across health and care services.”
Gillian Merron, the health minister in the Lords, will confirm the change of plan when peers debate the health bill . Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parliamentarians had criticised the planned abolition.
Healthwatch has gained respect for publishing reports highlighting issues such as declining patient access to NHS-funded dental treatment and years-long waiting times for ADHD assessments. It has also exposed flaws in the way the service communicates with patients, for example telling some of them about appointments after the date has already passed.
Cooper reprieved Healthwatch after MPs and peers from all sides in parliament raised serious concern that scrapping it would mean the loss of important oversight of the NHS.
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Thea Stein, the chief executive of the Nuffield Trust thinktank and a former head of an NHS trust in Leeds, said: “Abolishing Healthwatch would have thrown away the independence that gave it credibility, without doing anything to address the reasons the NHS often don’t listen.
“It was the wrong solution to a real problem. Healthwatch has played a valuable role in making it more difficult for the NHS to ignore patients’ often frustrating experience of using it.”
Until now, the government had planned to transfer Healthwatch’s functions into NHS regional integrated care boards (ICBs) and local councils. But Healthwatch will now play a greater role in identifying recurring concerns and highlighting where action is needed to improve quality, safety and patient experience.
The Local Government Association had warned that abolishing Healthwatch “risks [NHS] organisations being seen to mark their own homework” and could create “confusion” for patients.
Other recent government climbdowns on the health bill include ministers dropping plans to:
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axe the Health Services Safety Investigations Body.
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end councils’ automatic representation on the boards of ICBs.
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remove the requirement for a nurse on every NHS foundation trust board.
The U-turns show Cooper is closely examining the legacy bequeathed to her by her predecessor, Wes Streeting, and tearing up elements of the bill she thinks are misguided.
Stein said: “This retreat needs to be followed by a cultural shift away from a health service where patients’ voices are all too often at the bottom of a long and impossible list.”
