Provision of a local Healthwatch Service in Lancashire

Healthwatch was created by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 as the independent consumer champion for health and social care. Healthwatch operates at national level through Healthwatch England and at a local level through local Healthwatch. Local Healthwatch operates in each upper tier local authority area. Local Healthwatch Service will help to ensure that the views and feedback from local people are an integral part of local commissioning across health and social care. To ensure that Lancashire County Council (the Authority) fulfils its statutory responsibility in relation to the creation of Healthwatch Lancashire ('the Service'), the Provider, in delivering the Service will: Promote and support the involvement of local people in the commissioning, provision and scrutiny of local care services. Enable local people to monitor the standard of local care services and whether / how they could / ought to be improved. This includes the right to carry out 'Enter and View' visits on premises where publicly funded care services are provided as part of its role in gathering evidence. Obtain the views of people about their need for and their experiences of local care services and making these views known to persons responsible for commissioning, providing, managing or scrutinising local care services. Make reports and recommendations about how local care services could or ought to be improved. Provide advice and information about access to local care services so choices can be made about local care services.