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Medway Local Healthwatch

Councillor David BrakePortfolio holder Adults services

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Healthwatch

• Healthwatch is a new independent consumer champion created to gather and represent the views of the public.

• Healthwatch will play a role at both national and local level and will make sure that the views of the public and people who use services are taken into account.

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Local Healthwatch

Will be established in April 2013Seat on the Health and Well-being boardIt will cover 3 functions1)     Citizen Engagement - the role previously

performed by Local Involvement Networks (LINks)

2)     Information and Signposting - supporting individuals to choose how their specific health and social care needs are met

3) NHS Complaints Advocacy Service for when things go wrong

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Local Healthwatch cont

The key requirements are:• local Healthwatch organisations must be

corporate bodies carrying out statutory functions, but does not need to be a statutory body,

• they must be ‘not-for-profit’ organisation(s);• local Healthwatch must be able to employ staff

and (if they choose) be able to sub-contract statutory functions.

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Local Healthwatch will?

LHW will need to be accountable in a number of different ways:

• To the Medway community it serves and represents

• To Healthwatch England which will set standards

• To Medway Council commissioning Healthwatch services

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Healthwatch England

Healthwatch England will be a established in October 2012,and will statutory, distinctive part of the Care Quality Commission. It will:

• provide leadership, advice and support to Local Healthwatch

• provide advice to the NHS Commissioning Board, Monitor and the Secretary of State

• have powers to propose a CQC investigation of poor services

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Medway Local Healthwatch

• Healthwatch development group• Establishment of a Healthwatch Page on the

Council website to keep the community up to date on the developments of healthwatch www.medway.gov.uk/medwayhealthwatch

• Healthwatch email address for the public to contact the council, medwayhealthwatch@medway.gov.uk

• A short article on Healthwatch will go out in Medway Matters June edition.

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Medway Local Healthwatch

Consultation events• LINks workshop • Market development workshop• Young Inspectors• Medway Youth Parliament• Skills and competencies of local

health watch• Hard to reach communities - ongoing

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Funding for Local HealthwatchDH will allocate funding directly to

the Local Authority. (This funding will not be ring-fenced.)

• Current LINk funding• Patient Advisory Liaison Service

(PALS)• Independent Complaints

Advocacy service ( ICAS)

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Designing the new organisation• Working with Centre for Public scrutiny on a

community report• Market development workshop discussing

what would work best for the Medway Healthwatch

Key messages:• Strong and clear governance is essential to enable

Medway Local Healthwatch to fulfil its functions successfully

• Volunteers need to be valued and supported to enable them to contribute to Local Healthwatch

• It is important to focus on both health and social care

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Key Message

Working together for the benefit of the Medway

community