Health Bill update: What could the changes mean for Healthwatch? update October 2026

The future of Healthwatch is being debated in Parliament. The Health Bill has now passed through the House of Commons and moved to the House of Lords. 

What you need to know

• The Government’s plans to change Healthwatch are still in the Health Bill, but ministers have said they will look at them again.
• Nothing changes for now. Healthwatch Halton remains open, independent and working as normal.
• The Bill is now moving through the House of Lords, with further opportunities for it to be scrutinised and changed.

So, what does that mean for Healthwatch – and, more importantly, for people in Halton who want to have their say about health and social care?

There is still some way to go before we know the answer.

September 2026 update: What's changed?

The Health Bill completed its final stage in the House of Commons on 8 September 2026.

During the debate, MPs raised concerns about what could be lost if local Healthwatch organisations were closed.

Changes were put forward that would have removed the plans to close Healthwatch from the Bill. These were not agreed, so the plans remain. But the conversation isn't over.

What is the Health Bill - and what does it say about Healthwatch?

The Health Bill includes major changes to Healthwatch at both national and local level.

Healthwatch England uses what local Healthwatch organisations hear from people across the country to highlight issues at a national level. Under the current plans, Healthwatch England would be abolished as an independent organisation, and its national work would move into the Department of Health and Social Care.

For Local Healthwatch, the Bill would end the current requirement for local authorities, in our case Halton Borough Council, to provide a local Healthwatch organisation. Responsibilities for hearing people's experiences would instead sit with NHS organisations and local authorities. That means organisations such as Healthwatch Halton may no longer exist in their current form.

The Government says it wants listening to people's experiences to become a bigger part of how health and care organisations work. We support that aim. People's experiences should help shape care.

The question is how that can happen while making sure people still have somewhere independent to speak openly about their experiences.

How did we get here in the first place?

The Health Bill was introduced to Parliament earlier this year. On 1 June 2026, MPs debated its main ideas in the House of Commons. MPs from different political parties raised concerns about the plans for Healthwatch. The Bill then went to a smaller group of MPs, known as a Public Bill Committee, which looked at the proposals in more detail between June and July. Healthwatch England and other organisations gave evidence about the proposed changes.

It returned to the full House of Commons in September, where MPs had another opportunity to debate it and suggest changes before it completed its Commons stages on 8 September. Now it's the turn of the House of Lords.

Why does having somewhere independent to speak up matter?

Put simply, it can be difficult to speak openly about an organisation when you're relying on that same organisation for your care.

You might have had a poor experience at a hospital, perhaps you've struggled to get a GP appointment, had problems arranging care for a family member, or tried to raise a concern and felt nobody was really listening. Or you might just be unsure who to talk to. That's where having somewhere independent can help.

Healthwatch is separate from the organisations that provide, plan, or pay for NHS and social care provision. We listen. We look at whether other people are telling us similar things. We use what we hear to ask questions and push for service improvements.

That doesn't just mean hearing about things that have gone wrong. People tell us when they've had really good care too. That's equally important because it helps show what's working and what could work well elsewhere.

Being independent means we can:

• listen to your experience without being part of the organisation providing your care
• raise concerns when people tell us something isn't working
• publish what we find and say where we think things could be better
• take people's experiences directly to those making decisions about health and social care
• follow up issues and ask what's being done about them
• help people find information and work out where to go for further help.

What people tell us can show things that figures, targets and official reports sometimes can't.

It's the everyday reality of using the NHS and social care.

What could this mean here in Halton?

Your care doesn't always fit neatly into one organisation.

You might leave hospital and need support from your GP, community health teams and local authority social care teams. From your point of view, it's all part of the same experience.

You shouldn't need to understand which organisation is responsible for which bit before you can tell someone what worked – or what went wrong.

Having an independent local organisation means we can listen to that whole experience, rather than just the part involving one organisation.

Halton brings its own challenges.

What it's like accessing health or social care services in Halton can be very different from someone's experience in a small rural parish. Distance matters. Transport matters. What's available locally matters too.

We hear from people living across our towns, villages and rural communities, and those experiences are often very different.

Whatever happens next, it's important that people across the length and breadth of Halton borough still have somewhere to share those experiences – and know they'll be heard.

What are Healthwatch and other organisations saying?

Healthwatch organisations across England have been making the case for an independent voice to remain part of whatever comes next.

Other organisations representing people who use health and social care services, as well as local authorities, have also raised concerns about the plans.

Healthwatch is putting forward ideas about the future too. These include looking at how the current Healthwatch model could be kept and strengthened, as well as what a new independent way of hearing people's experiences could look like. This isn't simply about protecting an organisation called Healthwatch.

It's about the person who's had a difficult experience and doesn't know who to tell. The family member who's struggling to find the right support. Or someone who's already spoken up but doesn't feel anything has changed. That's the important bit.