Healthwatch workforce numbers fall
Healthwatch workforce numbers fall by a fifth as report warns of ‘perilous’ state of funding
The report found that funding received by local Healthwatch services fell by 4.3% between 2017-18 and 2018-19, meaning that total statutory funding has fallen by 35% since 2013 at a time when health spending has increased by 8.5% over the same period.
The impact of the funding reductions, which Healthwatch has raised with Matt Hancock, was the network – the health sector’s “single biggest source of user insight” – “now being comprised in places.”
All local authorities in England have a legal duty to commission local Healthwatch services for their community, finding out what people want from health and social care and sharing these views with those running the services.
