The Liberal Democrats have urged Andy Burnham to stop the “bonfire of patient safety” as part of the government’s plans to modernise the NHS.
Healthwatch England (HWE), an independent body which represents the views of patients at their local health and social care providers, is set to be scrapped under the NHS Modernisation Bill.
The Health Service Safety Investigation Bureau (HSSIB), which carries out patient safety investigations, is also being abolished.
The government says its changes will strip back bureaucracy and improve patient safety.
The Lib Dems warned it risks another Stafford Hospital scandal – where years of abuse and neglect led to hundreds of unnecessary patient deaths.
A Healthcare Commission report found the scandal – one of the biggest in NHS history – involved at least 400 more deaths than expected between 2005 and 2008.
Under the government proposals, Healthwatch’s responsibilities will be transferred to integrated care boards (ICBs) and local authorities, meaning they would have to respond to feedback about their own services, rather than being challenged by an independent body.
Separately, HSSIB’s functions will be transferred to the government-run Care Quality Commission (CQC), which the Lib Dems argue raises concerns there is no guarantee that staff who raise safety concerns are given anonymity.
Other measures include the abolition of NHS England in a bid to centralise the running of health and social care services under the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The government says this will reduce bureaucracy and allow more resources to be delivered to frontline healthcare services.
NHS England to be axed as role returns to government control
Published13 March 2025The NHS Modernisation Bill is currently at the report stage and due for a third reading on 7 September.
Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan said this was “a catastrophic step backwards” and described it as the “greatest backward step in patient safety in a generation”.
“Andy Burnham must urgently put an end to this, and fix the Health Bill so that modernising the NHS doesn’t come at the expense of accountability, transparency or patient safety,” Morgan added.
In a speech on NHS reform in January, then-Health Secretary Wes Streeting said “there are many decent people working at Healthwatch who care, but the job of listening to patients can’t be farmed out to an arm’s length body”.
“It must be core business for the NHS. That is why we’re taking it back in-house and I won’t back down on that either.”
The Lib Dems also said the current bill removes the duty for the NHS to cooperate with the Care Quality Commission in providing key safety data and removes automatic “safe space” protections for whistleblowers.
Amendments tabled by the Liberal Democrats would cancel the changes and the party is “urging the new Burnham administration to adopt them”.
The party vowed to robustly fight the government in the House of Lords, where Labour doesn’t have a majority.
A DHSC spokesperson said NHS Modernisation Bill “explicitly preserves safe space provisions and staff will continue to be protected”.
“The reforms we are introducing will give patients a stronger, clearer voice at the heart of health and social care.”
Burnham was health secretary in 2009, when the Healthcare Commission’s report was released on the Stafford Hospital scandal. Burnham then launched an independent inquiry in 2010.
In May, the Local Government Association (LGA) told the BBC disbanding Healthwatch would be a “significant step back” in accountability.
“Without an independent, locally rooted voice to challenge and represent communities, there is a risk of duplication and gaps in accountability,” the LGA said.
There are currently more than 150 local Healthwatch organisations in England.
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