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Next month sees a major step in the setting up of HealthWatch England, with the start of the recruitment of its Chair.

HealthWatch England will be the national consumer champion that will give a voice to collective views of the people who use NHS and social care services in England.

Patrick Vernon, Chair of the HealthWatch advisory group said: “HealthWatch England’s Chair will have a pivotal role in providing leadership and establishing it as the new consumer champion for health and social care in England.

“The Chair will voice the views of people who use health and social care services to those responsible for services locally and nationally and be able to use those views to influence national policy.”

The Chair is expected to take up the post in April 2012 (as Chair designate until the Health and Social Care Bill receives Royal Assent).

Dame Jo Williams, CQC Chair, said: "This is an exciting opportunity for us. HeathWatch England’s work will complement and strengthen CQC’s existing activity. CQC will provide HealthWatch England with a strong foundation. HealthWatch England will have clear routes to raise concerns about services, swiftly and effectively."

CQC has also set out other important landmarks in the development of HealthWatch England including:

• appointing staff (senior staff to be in place by June 2012).
• developing information and briefings for local HealthWatch organisations by June 2012.
• developing a work plan for the new organisation by summer 2012.
• agreeing the budget with the Department of Health by summer 2012.
• agreeing how the relationship between HealthWatch England and CQC will work by summer 2012.
• agreeing the composition of and appointing the HealthWatch England committee(which will take up its role in October 2012).
• developing the HealthWatch England web site to launch in October 2012.

While these developments are taking place, CQC and the Department of Health will be talking to a wide range of organisations and individuals with an interest in HealthWatch and helping local HealthWatch organisations to develop.

For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

Notes to editors

Find out more about HealthWatch.

Find out more about preparing for HealthWatch in our set up plan below.

Preparing for HealthWatch: CQC’s plan to set up HealthWatch England

HealthWatch will provide leadership, advice and support to Local Healthwatch and will provide advice to the NHS Commissioning Board, Monitor, the Secretary of State and local authorities. It will be able to propose that CQC investigate poor services.

The establishment of HealthWatch England is subject to the parliamentary passage of the Health and Social Care Bill.

Local HealthWatch will be created by developing the role of existing LINks (Local Involvement Networks). They will ensure that views of people who use care services, carers and the wider public become integral to local commissioning of services. They will support people who use services and carers to make choices about services, and will provide intelligence for HealthWatch England about the quality of providers.

HealthWatch England will be a statutory sub-committee of CQC.

The Chair of HealthWatch England will be a non-executive director of CQC and will be Chair designate until 1 October 2011.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England. Our aim is to make sure that better care is provided for everyone, whether it is in hospital, in care homes, in people’s own homes, or anywhere else that care is provided. We also seek to protect the interests of people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act. We promote the rights and interests of people who use services and we have a wide range of enforcement powers to take action on their behalf if services are unacceptably poor.

Under a new regulatory system introduced by government, the NHS, independent health care and adult social care must meet a single set of essential standards of quality and safety for the first time. We register health and adult social care services if they meet essential standards, we monitor them to make sure that they continue to do so and we respond quickly if there are concerns that standards are not being maintained. We do this by closely monitoring a wide range of information about the quality and safety of services, including the views of people who use services, and through assessment and inspection The feedback from people who use services is a vital part of our dynamic system of regulation which places the views, experiences, health and wellbeing of people who use services at its centre.