The government has set out some clear roles and functions that Healthwatch will legally need to provide:
i). Information, advice and signposting, helping you make choices
Be a single point of contact to provide information and advice to any individual member of the public about accessing health and social care services
Enable people to take more control over their own health, treatment and care by helping them to understand, and make use of, increased choices available to them
ii). Involve the whole community in helping to improve, influence and shape health and social care services for local people
Gather evidence, views and experiences of local people and make these known to Healthwatch England, helping it to carry out its role
Be able to enter and view premises where health and care services are provided and report on its findings
Make recommendations to Healthwatch England to advise the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to carry out special reviews or investigations into areas of concern (Healthwatch Isle of Wight can also go directly to CQC if they have an urgent concern)
Promote and support the involvement of people in the monitoring, commissioning and provision of local health and care services
Obtain the views of people about their needs for and experiences of local health and care services and make those views known to those involved in commissioning, providing and scrutinising these services locally. Healthwatch will be duty bound to be widely representative of the whole community including children and young people and those seldom heard
Make reports and recommendations about how those services could or should be improved and attend meetings of the Isle of Wight Health & Wellbeing Board to represent the voice of the community to inform strategic decisions being made about health and social care services for the Isle of Wight
iii). Support people who need help to make a complaint about NHS services
Provide, or at the very least, signpost people to advocacy support services for people who wish to complain about NHS services and need some help to do so. By advocacy we mean support to take action to help people say what they want, secure their rights, represent their interests and obtain services they need.