Who we are and what we do
Healthwatch Milton Keynes is your local health and social care champion. From Bletchley to Great Linford, and everywhere in between, we make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers hear your voice and use your feedback to improve care.
If you use GPs and hospitals, dentists, pharmacies, care homes or other support services in your area, we want to hear about your experiences. As an independent statutory body, we have the power to make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers listen to local feedback and improve standards of care. We can also help you to find reliable and trustworthy information and advice.
Last year, the Healthwatch network helped nearly a million people like you to have your say and get the support you need. Healthwatch Milton Keynes is part of a network of over 150 local Healthwatch across the country. We’re here to listen to the issues that really matter to people in Milton Keynes and to hear about your experiences of using local health and social care services. We’re entirely independent and impartial, and anything you share with us is confidential.
Healthwatch uses your feedback to better understand the challenges facing the NHS and other care providers and we make sure your experiences improve health and care for everyone – locally and nationally. We can also help you to get the information and advice you need to make the right decisions for you and to get the support you deserve.
It’s really important that you share your experiences – whether good or bad, happy or sad. If you’ve had a negative experience, it’s easy to think there’s no point in complaining, and that ‘nothing ever changes’. Or, if you’ve had a great experience, that you ‘wish you could say thank you’. Remember, your feedback is helping to improve people’s lives. So, if you need advice, or you’re ready to tell your story – we’re here to listen.
Our Mission Statement: 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.
How we make decisions about our work
Healthwatch Milton Keynes is required to have in place, and publish procedures for making relevant decisions. Relevant decisions include how to undertake our activities, which health and care services we are looking at addressing with our activities, the money we will spend on our activities, whether to request information (e.g. submit a Freedom of Information request), whether to make a report or a recommendation on a service or organsiation, which premises to Enter and view and when those premises are to be visited, whether to refer a matter to Overview and Scrutiny Committee (e.g. where a service or provider doesn’t respond adequately to significant recommendations for improvement), whether to report a matter concerning our activities to another person. You can learn about our decision making by reading our decision making policy.
Downloads
Our Strategy and Business Plan
To find out more about what how we achieve our mission statement, you can read our:
Our Governance Structure
We are registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).
Our Board of Trustees oversees our governance and is responsible for policy-setting and for the management of the organisation. The Healthwatch Advisory Panel is responsible for developing strategic business plans and monitoring outcomes and impact, in conjunction with the Executive Team, who are responsible for the delivery of activities.
