She found out by joining a video webinar when it was revealed that Healthwatch England and all its local affiliate groups were to set to go.<\/p>\n
This was the evening before Health Secretary Wes Streeting released the news publicly via the Daily Mail, as part of his so-called \u201cbonfire of the quangoes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of bodies could go as part of the upcoming ten-year health plan.<\/p>\n
Mr Streeting said: \u201cThere are way too many checkers and not enough doers in the system\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t need ventriloquists to speak for patients, patients can speak for ourselves if we\u2019re given the opportunity to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that was a \u201churtful\u201d misunderstanding of what Healthwatch York does, Sian told YorkMix<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said he wants to hold a megaphone to patient voice, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve always been trying to do. <\/p>\n \u201cVentriloquists put words in the mouth of dummies. That\u2019s not an analogy that I would ever use about the role that we play. <\/p>\n \u201cWe listen to people. The power that we have is nothing to do with the kind of statutory stuff and the seats at the table. It\u2019s to do with using those voices in a way that people can\u2019t ignore.<\/p>\n \u201cHealthwatch York was created to make sure that people have a voice in our health and social care system. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we do matters.\u201d<\/p>\n Group achievements<\/p>\n The organisation has been running since 2013. It has four part-time staff, a team of 30 volunteers and an annual budget of \u00a3115,610.<\/p>\n That small team take on a number of different roles. An engagement officer goes into the community to talk to people and listen to their experiences of health and social care.<\/p>\n Out of this work, Healthwatch York spoke to deaf people about their unsatisfactory experiences of health care communications.<\/p>\n As a result, the organisation was asked to join a national taskforce which created a set of standards to ensure that all patients were given information in a way that was accessible to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a really proud moment for us, knowing we contributed to that national decision,\u201d Si\u00e2n said.<\/p>\n Healthwatch York volunteers visit care homes across the city to talk to residents and ask them: \u201cwhat is it like to live here?\u201d Those reports are published.<\/p>\n Other volunteers check NHS leaflets and similar literature and suggest changes to make sure they are understandable to patients.<\/p>\n A Healthwatch York research officer does deep dives into key topics, including one on mental health crisis care. That involved partnering with organisations like York Mind as well as people with lived experience of mental illness, drug use and the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n His recommendations were taken to the decision makers at places like York Hospital and local NHS trusts \u201cto let them know what people are telling us, what really matters to them, what their experiences have been, and how we think those experiences could be improved,\u201d Sian said.<\/p>\n And another team member puts together guides for people trying to navigate their way through the health system.<\/p>\n \u2018Listen again\u2019<\/p>\n Under the Health Secretary\u2019s plans patients would report their experiences direct, via the NHS app.<\/p>\n But Si\u00e2n says this would exclude many people who weren\u2019t comfortable with using smartphones. And much of the feedback that did get through would lack the depth of the Healthwatch York reports.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI really hope that there\u2019s an opportunity to pause and listen again to those working in the health and care system about what our value could be going forward.<\/p>\n \u201cAs somebody I spoke to today said to me, the problem is, if you didn\u2019t exist, we\u2019d have to invent you. Let\u2019s not reinvent something that\u2019s already there, that\u2019s already working.\u201d<\/p>\n Si\u00e2n urged anyone who wanted to raise their concerns about the loss of Healthwatch York to write to their MP.<\/p>\n In the meantime, the organisation looks set to continue its work, at least until new legislation confirms the abolition, which is not expected until 2026.<\/p>\n Si\u00e2n said: \u201cI would urge Wes Streeting to think again, to talk with us, with members of the network, and with members of the public who\u2019ve used our services.<\/p>\n \u201cI would urge him to listen to those voices, understand what we bring to the system. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we can play a really vital part in the rebuilding of our NHS.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A campaigning health watchdog that acts on behalf of patients across York is set to be scrapped under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-266971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114863765259262969","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/sian-balsom-healthwatch-york.webp.webp\")
Si\u00e2n Balsom, Healthwatch York. Photograph: Supplied<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/york-hospital-sign-february-2022.webp.webp\")
York Hospital. Photograph: YorkMix<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/health-secretary-wes-streeting-pa.webp.webp\")
Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Photograph: Lucy North \/ PA wire<\/p>\n