Healthwatch Brent is facing capacity issues amidst national changes to the health and social care landscape, according to a progress update presented at the Brent Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on 20 November 2025.

The report, Healthwatch Brent Six Month Update, highlighted the recommendations of the Dash report, which included transferring Healthwatch England's functions to a new directorate within the Department of Health and Social Care and local Healthwatch functions to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and local authorities. Healthwatch Brent is currently working towards a potential timescale of October 2026 for this transfer. Firm dates are expected to be confirmed in due course. This has created uncertainty for the organisation.

Adding to the challenges, Healthwatch Brent's Communications and Engagement Officer left in early September, reducing their capacity. Healthwatch Brent's capacity is measured in Whole Time Equivalent (WTE), with a full establishment of 2.4 WTE. The departure reduced their capacity to 1.6 WTE. Despite these challenges, recruitment efforts have been successful, and the team is expected to be back to full capacity this month. Returning to full capacity (2.4 WTE) is expected to address the capacity issues and allow Healthwatch Brent to deliver its planned actions, which had been significantly impacted by the staff departure.

Patricia Zebiri, Healthwatch Manager, updated the board on the organisation's work programme for 2025-26, which focuses on:

  • Community engagement
  • Adult social care
  • Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA)
  • Pharmacy First
  • GP access and complaints
  • Participating in key Health and Care meetings
  • Health awareness / tackling inequalities

Despite the challenges, Healthwatch Brent has continued its community engagement efforts. In the first quarter of the year, they participated in 10 engagement and outreach events, reaching 91 residents. In the second quarter, they participated in nine events, reaching 113 residents.

Healthwatch Brent has also continued its partnership work with Adult Social Care (ASC), contacting service users to gather feedback on their experiences. According to the Healthwatch Brent Six Month Update, they contacted 34 residents and spoke to 31 of them, representing a 91% uptake. While residents were complementary about the quality of service provided by carers and social workers, they also identified challenges related to communication, timeliness of response, and consistency of care. Specific issues raised by service users included:

  • Communication that was not always timely.
  • Variable quality of care depending on the assigned carer.
  • Slow changes to care packages or facilities.
  • A perceived lack of signposting to local and national services.

Rachel Crossley from Adult Social Care (ASC) reported that they receive a report from Healthwatch, review it, and provide a written response to the recommendations. They also use the feedback in staff quarterly events and audits. She noted that communication is improving but is not where it needs to be, and they are doing a lot of work around their practice model and increasing supervision.

Rachel Crossley from Brent Council commented on the importance of Healthwatch's independence, stating that the feedback gathered by Healthwatch feels different from what the council gathers itself, because Healthwatch acts as an honest broker. This independence is considered important because residents may feel more comfortable sharing honest feedback with an independent organisation like Healthwatch than directly with the council. She expressed concern about maintaining that independence if Healthwatch were to be integrated into the ICB or local authority, saying that it would be a loss if residents felt less able to be open about their experiences.

Councillor Graw thanked Healthwatch for their hard work and noted the importance of patients and service users having a voice during this period of significant reform and change.

Councillor Nerva thanked Patricia Zebiri and the Healthwatch staff for working through a period of uncertainty and expressed the board's desire to determine how to distil some of the work Healthwatch has undertaken and what the authority and health service are looking for in terms of resident feedback.