Healthwatch Kent
The Kent Local Involvement Network (LINk), which represented the
public voice on health and social care services, was abolished
at the end of March 2013.
It has been replaced by Healthwatch Kent,
which has extra responsibilities for health and social
care. The aspiration for Healthwatch Kent is that it will be an
independent, credible, powerful organisation that effectively
represents the population of Kent for health and social care
matters
Healthwatch Kent is commissioned by, and accountable
to, Kent County Council – but operates
independently.
The role of Healthwatch Kent
Healthwatch Kent will:
- provide information about local health and care
services.
- enable people to share their views about their local health and
social care services to help build a picture of where services are
doing well and where they can be improved.
- alert Healthwatch England to concerns about specific care
providers.
- participate in decision-making via local authority health and
wellbeing boards.
- play an integral role in the preparation of the statutory Joint
Strategic Needs Assessments and joint health and wellbeing
strategies.
- provide evidence-based feedback to organisations responsible
for commissioning or delivering local health and social care
services.
- help clinical commissioning groups to make sure that services
really are designed to meet citizens’ needs.
For more information, please visit the Healthwatch Kent website,
email info@healthwatchkent.co.uk
or call Healthwatch on 08088 010102.