Local Healthwatch Impact in 2025/26

29 September 2026

Healthwatch England has published Local Healthwatch Impact 2025/26: Improving services through community insight, a national report showing how people’s experiences are helping to improve health and social care services.

The report brings together learning from the annual reports of all 153 local Healthwatch organisations, including Healthwatch Wirral.

The national picture

During 2025/26, local Healthwatch organisations engaged with more than 370,000 people across England.

This report shows how we listen to our communities, identify concerns, and help services understand what needs to improve. It also recognises the contribution of more than 4,200 volunteers who support our work.

Chair of Healthwatch England, Professor Croisdale-Appleby OBE, said in his foreword:

Having personally visited a great many local Healthwatch over the past year,  I have seen at first-hand the sheer level of commitment made by staff, volunteers and Board members to listening to their communities and using what they hear to support positive and practical improvement.

It should be noted the reports were produced during a period of uncertainty for the network as  discussions about its future continue through the current parliamentary process. Regardless of that context, they provide a highly detailed and well-evidenced, independent record of the state of the  nation’s health and social care services, and demonstrate the tangible difference that such community insight can make to those services

Key Findings

The report highlights how local Healthwatch organisations are:

• Reaching people whose voices might otherwise go unheard
• Identifying barriers to health and social care services
• Helping people navigate increasingly complex services
• Supporting improvements to access, communication and referral pathways
• Promoting digital inclusion while protecting non-digital ways to access care
• Providing an independent source of community insight and early warning
• Using Enter and View visits to understand people’s experiences of health and care settings
• Working with health and social care partners to turn feedback into practical change

Healthwatch Wirral’s work during 2025/26

The themes highlighted in the national report can also be seen in our work across Wirral. Throughout 2025/26, we listened to local people, helped individuals navigate health and care services, carried out independent research and shared community insight with decision-makers.

During the year:

• More than 10,400 experiences of health and social care were shared with us
• We recorded more than 24,100 contacts and interactions
• We published nine reports
• Eleven volunteers contributed 1,231 hours to support our work
• We supported 71 people through NHS complaints advocacy
• 22 people received personalised, one-to-one support through our Way Forward project
• We led research bringing together 1,717 experiences from 19 local Healthwatch areas
• We helped people at seven Day Service locations take part in accessible and independent consultations

From local insight to wider change

The national report shows that listening is only the first step. The real value comes from using what people tell us to shape decisions and support practical improvements.

We will continue to bring Wirral voices into local and national discussions. By working independently and constructively with health and social care organisations, we can help make services more responsive and inclusive.

Learn more about Healthwatch England, or read our Annual Report 2025/26 for more insight on what we worked on in the past year.

Download the full Local Healthwatch Impact 2025/26 report below.