News and reports

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The NHS 10 Year Health plan proposes to abolish Healthwatch England and 152 local Healthwatch, and transfer functions ‘in-house’ to local authorities and NHS Integrated Care Boards once legislation has passed. This is a result of the Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape, led by Dr Penny Dash.

If this goes ahead as planned, it will remove the only collective, independent and statutory opportunity for the public to hold the NHS and social care system to account. 

Healthwatch Bromley is committed to empowering local residents to make best use of health and social care services. We initiated this research project to collect insights from and analyse the needs of Bromley young carers aged 11 – 19, in response to suggestions that this potentially vulnerable group might need targeted support to make better use of these services.

131 local Healthwatch services across England have signed a powerful open letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, urging the government to reconsider proposals that would bring public voice functions under the control of local authorities and NHS bodies.

The E&V visit was carried out on Wednesday 14th May 2025; four E&V ARs were present. It was announced and planned in partnership with the home. In preparation, we shared with the manager a poster announcing the E&V, to display in communal areas, and questionnaires explaining the purpose of the visit in further detail and seeking feedback.

Bromley Council is consulting on its draft pharmaceutical needs assessment, between 26 June to the 26 August 2025.

Every Health and Wellbeing Board has a statutory responsibility to update their Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) every 3 years and Bromley must do so by the 1 October 2025.

The Government is planning big changes.

Healthwatch is set to be abolished by 2027 with our work moved to councils and the NHS.

Fill out our latest survey and help shape how local NHS and care services listen to local people in the future.

We had a fabulous time at the Volunteer Managers' Networking Meet-Up this week!

On Saturday 28th June 2025, it was reported that the forthcoming Penny Dash Review will recommend Healthwatch England be dis-established along with other independent NHS organisations. According to the report, funding for patient and public engagement would instead be redirected in-house: to Local Authorities for adult social care, and to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) for health services. The stated aim is to bring the patient and public voice closer to service delivery, by embedding engagement directly within these organisations.

Our annual report includes how we have engaged and supported people over the year. We successfully gathered 2,392 resident's experiences of health and social care services in the London Borough of Bromley and published 16 reports.

This report presents the key findings and recommendations from our comprehensive evaluation of housebound Bromley residents with long-term conditions (LTC). Our objective was to review the quality of care and identify improvements which would enhance service delivery and better meet the diverse needs of service users and unpaid carers. We focused on what services exist and who are the providers, ease of access to necessary services and the availability of health and social care information.

The E&V visit was carried out on Thursday 17th April; four E&V ARs were present. It was announced and planned in partnership with the home. In preparation, we shared with the manager a poster announcing the E&V, to display in communal areas, and questionnaires explaining the purpose of the visit in further detail and seeking feedback.