Cornwall Council’s Cabinet Lead for Adult Social Care and Health Partnerships, has written an open letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, expressing his deep concern over the proposed cessation of Healthwatch.
This is the second letter written by Cllr Jim McKenna in response to last year’s Government announcement of plans to abolish Healthwatch in its current form.
The letter, which is also endorsed and signed by North Cornwall MP Ben Maguire, reinforces the original plea, which now takes into consideration recent, authoritative research published by The King’s Fund in March 2026, The future of patient voice: learning from the Healthwatch model.
Cllr McKenna wrote:
“This objective and independent report provides the most comprehensive and evidence based assessment to date of the contribution Healthwatch has made since its establishment in 2013, and I am confident it is being actively considered by the Department.”
Cllr McKenna goes on to highlight the absolute importance of
“retaining an independent patient voice”
saying that
“the independence of Healthwatch from both government and service providers has been fundamental to its credibility, reach and effectiveness.”
In July 2025, the Dash Review was published. This was a national review of the NHS, patient safety and patient experience, led by Doctor Penny Dash. The review looked at how several organisations gather people’s views about health and care, including Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch services.
Government went on to accept all of the Review’s recommendations, one of which states that local responsibilities for patient voice would be split between those in charge of the local NHS budget and who plan services.
Cllr McKenna writes;
“Fragmenting this function across multiple organisations risks losing both coherence and impact and broader insight to inform policy discussions.” Highlighting the explicit risk identified by The King’s Fund evidence that “transferring patient voice functions “in house” carries a substantial risk of weakening, rather than strengthening, accountability.”
The letter concludes with a call for further discussions between the Council and the Secretary of State to ‘adjust course’, stating plans to seek the support of Cornwall’s MP’s
“to make the case for the strengthening of the functions rather than dismantling.”