Who we are and what we do
Healthwatch Milton Keynes is your local health and social care champion. We make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers hear your voice and use your feedback to improve care.
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're also a registered charity.
If you use GPs and hospitals, dentists, pharmacies, care homes or other support services in your area, we want to hear about your experiences. 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 Milton Keynes 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
To champion people’s rights and access to high-quality health and social care.
Our vision
People’s lived experiences are used to design and improve health and social care services.
Our strategy
To find out more about what how we achieve our mission statement, you can read our:
Our business plan for 2024-25
Our values
Find out more about the key principles that guide our projects and activities.
How we make decisions about our work
We are required to have in place, and publish procedures for making relevant decisions.
'Relevant decisions' include:
- which health and care services we will focus on in our work the money we will spend on our activities,
- whether to request information (e.g. submit a Freedom of Information request),
- whether to publish a report or a recommendation on a service or organisation,
- which services 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.
Our decision-making policy
Our governance
We are registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).
Our Board of Trustees oversee our governance. They are responsible for policy and strategic decision-making.
Healthwatch National Reports Library
Every report from across the Healthwatch network - including all reports from Healthwatch Milton Keynes - is published in the National Reports Library.
There's research on a range of local health issues affecting people and communities in towns and cities across England.
The entire library is open to the public.