Expression Of Interest Healthwatch North Northamptonshire Council (NNC)

North Northamptonshire Council invited providers to express their interest for Healthwatch Services.

The Health & Social Care Act 2012 mandates that top-tier authorities commission Healthwatch locally, positioning it as the primary public champion for both local health and social care systems. Healthwatch plays a crucial role in monitoring the quality of local services, gathering public views and experiences, and influencing service provision. It mirrors this role nationally through its relationship with Healthwatch England and the CQC.

The expression of interest process for this recommissioning occurs amidst economic challenges and local change, where public input will be essential in shaping the future direction of services. Healthwatch's role as an independent public voice is critical to this process. The successful bidder will need to outline consultation methods to identify future priorities, ensuring that Healthwatch remains a valuable resource for the local community.

The Provider is expected to focus on the eight core statutory functions of Healthwatch. Emphasis should be placed on maximising public-facing services through a robust delivery model that leverages existing networks and partnerships for optimal reach and impact.

Local authorities are accountable for commissioning the following eight core statutory activities:

1. Promoting and supporting the involvement of people in the commissioning, the provision, and scrutiny of local care services.
2. Enabling people to monitor the standard of provision of local care services, whether and how local care services could and ought to be improved.
3. Obtaining the views of people regarding their need for, and experiences of, local care services and to make these views known to those responsible for commissioning, providing, managing, or scrutinising local care services to Healthwatch England.
4. Making reports and recommendations about how local care services could or ought to be improved. These are usually directed to commissioners and Provider of care services and people responsible for managing or scrutinising local care services and shared with Healthwatch England.
5. Providing advice and information about access to local care services so people can make choices about this service.
6. Formulating views on the standard of provision and whether and how the local care services could and ought to be improved and sharing these views with Healthwatch England. (See Sharing information with Healthwatch England)
7. Making recommendations to Healthwatch England to advise the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to conduct special reviews or investigations (or, where the circumstances justify doing so, making recommendations direct to CQC); and to make recommendations to Healthwatch England to publish reports about issues.
8. Providing Healthwatch England with the intelligence and insight it needs to enable it to perform effectively. Whilst ensuring the arrangements are "effective" and "represent value for money", and to publish a report in relation to their findings on provision in their area.