Healthwatch Warwickshire held our Conference 2026 at the Wolston Leisure Centre on the 16th June. The context of the event was the announcement a year ago by the then Secretary of State, Wes Streeting, that Healthwatch was to be abolished. The purpose of the event was to bring people together to explore what we can do to ensure that patient and public voice continues to be properly heard if the closure of Healthwatch does go ahead as planned.
The Conference was very well attended and there were excellent contributions from Crishni Waring (Chair of the local Cluster ICB), Simon Trickett (Chief Executive of the Cluster ICB) and from Dr Emily Rowe (University of Warwick).
Delegates also heard from Healthwatch Warwickshire staff and volunteers about our work and priorities. The feedback from many people on the day (and after the Conference) was that the range, depth and quality of the work that our staff and volunteers do is enormously valuable and would be a great loss if the abolition proceeds as planned.
We also launched the idea of Transition Panels. The Panels will bring together key stakeholders and local activists over the next year to develop practical solutions to the challenge of ensuring that patient voice and patient experience are central to decision making. We asked people for their thoughts and asked for a commitment to the idea of joining the Panels.
The slides and presentations from the day will shortly be made available to anyone who attended or has an interest in the future of patient voice and engagement in Warwickshire and more widely.
The presentation that is not available is my summing up at the end of the Conference. It was not prepared in advance – partly because it drew on my emerging impressions of the context and partly because of what I heard from delegates and speakers during the day. My presentation is given below and seeks to be a faithful representation of the notes I made and the words I used on the day.
My enduring impression from the Conference is that they may abolish Healthwatch as an organisation, but the idea of Healthwatch, the spirit of Healthwatch, will not be abolished so easily. As one delegate said, this conference is talking about exactly the right issues at exactly the right time. We look forward to the continued dialogue.
The commitment to working together resonated right across the Conference Hall. People from the NHS, Local Government, voluntary and community organisations, and from patients/public all agreeing on the need for strong relationships and partnerships. I left feeling uplifted and ready to work for the patients, carers and public of Warwickshire. I also left feeling that so many others in the Hall felt the same way I did.
Now it is time to make it happen.
Healthwatch Conference Speech 2026
“For 12 years I’ve been welcoming people to our Conferences
It is strange indeed to think this will be the last time I will do so
Healthwatch Warwickshire has been on a journey of discovery and change
And as I look around I see many people in the room have been with us for all or part of that journey
We have built strong and enduring relationships
And we have worked together over the years to improve things for patients carers and the public
It has been very clear that real change and real improvements come from strong trusting relationships – not just from structures, lines of accountability and responsibility
I have been working in a range of patient voice initiatives for more than 30 years, from Community Health Councils to PPI to Links
I can hand on heart say that Healthwatch has been more impactful than previous iterations of patient voice functions – by a country mile – and it has continued to improve over time
People ask why it has been so much more successful
Perhaps it is our way of working?
We have always striven, from the outset to be Independent and fair
Our focus has always been on building relationships not lines of accountability or responsibility
We have always relied upon evidence not opinions
We have always been very clear that we have no interest in trying to catch anyone out
We have a shared goal of service improvement with those who provide and commission services
Our reporting is balanced and fair
Take our role as a critical friend to system partners very seriously
Our primary accountability is always to patients and carers in Warkwickshire
And we take that very seriously as well.
But our fate is not in our own hands
The Health Select Committee is meeting today (16th June)
We know that David Croisdale Appleby (Healthwatch England Chair) will be giving evidence
No Local Healthwatch are giving evidence
The fate of Healthwatch Warwickshire is being decided down in London
By people we don’t know, who have never been here, and don’t know what we do or how we work
It would be easy in those circumstances to give in to a counsel of despair, to feel helpless in the face of events happening far away
BUT We still have agency
We can still have a large say in determining the ways in which patient voice and patient experience can be heard in Warwickshire
That is why I set up this conference today
I wanted to bring together those working with communities and individuals so that together we can find and develop the new ways of working that we need
I also brought together some key speakers from our system
We heard from Crishni Waring (Chair of the Cluster ICB0 and from Simon Trickett (Chief Executive of the Cluster ICB)
They have identified Neighbourhood Health as their top priority
They are committed to working together to shape the future
They fully recognise the importance of having an independent voice for patients, carers and public
Some form of Healthwatch perhaps?
Also made a very important point – that you cannot improve population health by service provision alone
We then heard from Dr Emily Rowe from Warwick University.
Dr Rowe set out the intention to develop an Involvement Assessment Framework to support engagement by the end of July
The emphasis was on meaningful and impactful engagement, recognising the tensions and challenges
Dr Rowe also touched on what good engagement looks like and on ideas around co-production
Healthwatch staff also described the range depth and quality of the work they have consistently been delivering
We also heard about the development of Transition Panels and the role that they will have going forward
I am in no doubt that this is the best staff group I have ever worked with in my career
So I hope you have found today’s conference useful and worthwhile.
We have much to work on, and much to do
I cannot close the Conference without a few thanks
To the staff at Wolston for looking after us
Thanks to our keynote speakers for their huge contribution to this day
To Healthwatch staff for their work in getting this event together
Particularly Robyn for her leading role in planning this day
I also want to thank the staff for their commitment to patient voice and to Healthwatch over many years
Thanks to our amazing volunteers, without them there would be no Healthwatch
To our Board of Directors and our Chair for their support and guidance
To our friends and partners in the room here today.
Thank you for all that you have done
I hope that we will continue to work together
On practical solutions to the challenges we face
To build on the commitment and the hard work that is already being evident across the system
Hopefully by joining our Transition Panels, or in any other way that works for you and your organisation
This has to be just the start of a dialogue not the end
Finally, and most important of all – my thanks to the patients and public of Warwickshire for putting your faith and trust in us for so many years
Our first accountability is to you.
And our promise to you is that we will continue to do all we can for as long as we can
Have a safe and peaceful journey home”
Chris Bain 