Healthwatch Milton Keynes

Who we are

Healthwatch Milton Keynes is an independent public and patient champion promoting choice and influencing the provision of high quality health and social care services for all, across Milton Keynes.

Our mission is to be an independent organisation, providing an effective local voice for people in Milton Keynes, influencing and shaping health and social care services to meet their needs.

Healthwatch Milton Keynes is an independent Charitable Incorporated Organisation and part of the national Healthwatch network. Healthwatch Milton Keynes has been operating within Milton Keynes since April 2013, and became a CIO in January 2017.

Healthwatch Milton Keynes has statutory duties and powers under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. These include:

•Promoting and supporting the involvement of local people in the commissioning, the provision and scrutiny of local care services

•Enabling local people to monitor the standard of provision of local care services and whether and how local care services could and ought to be improved

•Obtaining the views of local people regarding their needs for, and experiences of, local care services and importantly to make these views known

•Making reports and recommendations about how local care services could or ought to be improved. These should be directed to commissioners and providers of care services, and people responsible for managing or scrutinising local care services and shared with Healthwatch England.

•Providing advice and information about access to local care services so choices can be made about local care services

•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.

•Making recommendations to Healthwatch England to advise the Care Quality Commission to conduct special reviews or investigations (or, where the circumstances justify doing so, making such recommendations direct to the CQC)

•Make recommendations to Healthwatch England to publish reports about particular issues

•Providing Healthwatch England with the intelligence and insight it needs to enable it to perform effectively

•Healthwatch Milton Keynes has the power to Enter and View providers so we can observe matters relating to health and social care services.