Healthwatch Barnet will be shut down by the end of 2026 following the government’s concern the NHS was failing to “listen to patients”, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

The provider of local services that help monitor NHS patient feedback has expressed its dismay at news they will be scrapped as part of the government’s new ten-year health plan.

Healthwatch groups covering Barnet and Haringey will be closed down next year following the government’s concern the NHS was failing to “listen to patients”.

Like similar groups across the country, Healthwatch Barnet and Healthwatch Haringey aim to understand the needs, experiences, and concerns of people who use health and social services.

A spokesperson for Public Voice, the service provider for Healthwatch groups in Barnet and Haringey, as well as two other London boroughs, called the move a “major change” and said it was “hard to square” the sentiment that patients needed someone to speak up on their behalf with the decision to scrap it.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the current system was “too complex” and the NHS needed “more doers and fewer checkers”.

A Public Voice spokesperson said: “It is easy to imagine how alternatives – like patients giving feedback on their care via the NHS app – could lead to greater inequalities and further marginalisation of the seldom heard.

“As a provider of local Healthwatch services in Barnet, Croydon, Haringey and Hounslow, Public Voice has seen first-hand the positive impact of engaging communities, gathering evidence of local issues and inequalities, and working together to improve services and commissioning.”

The service provider stressed its work went beyond delivering Healthwatch but added it was “saddened” by the change.

The Dash Review, which contains the proposal to close the service and forms part of the government’s ten-year health plan, will be enacted into legislation around “late 2026”.

Public Voice said until then Healthwatch would continue to operate as normal.

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