Healthwatch Norfolk is warning that no suitable alternative has been proposed for the loss of independent patient voice that would result from the dismantling of the Healthwatch network.
The decision to scrap local Healthwatch and transfer its patient feedback duties to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and local authorities was first announced in June 2025, as part of the NHS 10-Year Health plan. Healthwatch Norfolk is the only independent organisation in the county that listens to patients and speaks up on their behalf, and argues that this would amount to care providers essentially ‘marking their own homework’.
This risks another Mid-Staffordshire NHS scandal, after which Healthwatch was created, precisely because the health system needed someone outside of that system to hear what was really going on.
Importance of independence
The plans are outlined in the NHS Modernisation Bill, which faced its first major Parliamentary debate on 1 June. Under the Bill’s proposals, 153 local Healthwatch organisations would be absorbed into ICBs, many of which are themselves being merged and restructured, including the recently formed Norfolk and Suffolk ICB. All ICBs are under pressure to cut staffing and costs.
As yet, there have been no details released about how ICBs and local authorities will manage the extra workload created by taking on the functions of Healthwatch, or how that transition should take place.
Healthwatch Norfolk is not the only voice raising these concerns.
The King’s Fund, in its independent national review of the Healthwatch model published in March 2026, found that any future arrangement must maintain independence from the health and care system so it can “speak truth to power and raise difficult messages where necessary.” The Local Government Association has also spoken out recently, saying that disbanding Healthwatch could create a “fragmented system” which would undermine accountability.
Many people rely on Healthwatch because it is NOT part of the NHS or the council and that distance is precisely what makes them feel safe enough to speak honestly. This includes disabled people, carers, people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, migrants, people who don’t speak English as a first language, and those who are digitally excluded.
‘Risking another major failing’
Alex Stewart, Chief Executive of Healthwatch Norfolk, said:
“We are now a year on from the announcement that the Government intends to dismantle the Healthwatch network, and yet the voices in support of our existence and the continuation of our work only grow stronger.
“To cease the statutory functions of Healthwatch without a suitable alternative in place – one that inspires the same level of trust and confidence as the body it is replacing – is to risk another major failing in patient safety and scrutiny of the health system.
“This is a risk the NHS can ill afford at a time of huge change and when public confidence in our health system is already fragile. It is more important than ever that independent patient voice is defended, not silenced.”