Bedford Borough Healthwatch Service - AWARD

Bedford Borough Council is seeking to appoint a Provider to deliver its local Healthwatch service in Bedford Borough. Healthwatch Bedford Borough is the local and independent health and social care consumer champion. One of its key roles is to inform and influence improvements within the health and social care system, both at a local and national level, based on consumer feedback and experience.

The aim of local Healthwatch is to give citizens and communities a stronger voice to influence and challenge how health and social care services are provided within their locality. The core objectives of this contract are to deliver the following local Healthwatch statutory duties (Health and Social Care Act 2012):

• Provide advice and information to the public about access to local care services and about choices available with respect to those services;
• Promote and support the involvement of local people (see section 9) in the commissioning, provision and scrutiny of local care services;
• Obtain the views of people about their need for and experience of local care services;
• Present the views of the public through the production of reports and recommendations about how local care services could or ought to be improved;
• Share this information with both local commissioners and providers and, when appropriate, national bodies such as Healthwatch England and Care Quality Commission, to have a positive impact on the standards of provision of local care services;
• Assist Healthwatch England to enable it to carry out its functions effectively, efficiently and economically.

The contract will be for five (5) years, subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funding.