Press release: Healthwatch wins national award and reappointed to deliver contract
Healthwatch contract for Brighton and Hove
Following an open procurement exercise, Brighton and Hove City Council has reappointed Healthwatch Brighton and Hove CIC to deliver the local Healthwatch contract for the city.
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove has also been recognised in the national Healthwatch Impact Awards. In winning an award, we were recognised as an outstanding example of where the views and experiences of local people have been used to make care better.
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove were also shortlisted in the UK Customer Service Awards for their partnership work with University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.
I am immensely proud of our team and all our volunteers that help us deliver for patients and service users in the city. The reappointment for a further three years, with an option to extend the contract till 2030, is a vote of confidence in our ability to continue delivering for the city.
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove provides a great service in standing up for health services that serve our residents’ needs. The recognition by the Healthwatch England Impact Awards of their excellent work, in collaboration with neighbouring services, is fully deserved. I congratulate them and thank them for the work they do.
Healthwatch Impact Award Winners 2024
The national Healthwatch Impact Award showcases outstanding examples of where feedback shared from local people has been used to make positive changes to health and care support. The winner of the award was announced in March 2025.
Up against 17 other shortlisted projects from the 152-strong Healthwatch network across England, Healthwatch Brighton and Hove took home top honours for their joint work with local Healthwatch teams to improve patient transport in Sussex.
This award is greatly deserved and is a testament to the insight and knowledge that Healthwatch in Sussex brings to health and care services in the county, ensuring that we hear from and involve our population in all we do. Non-emergency patient transport services are crucial to the people of Sussex, and so when we began work to design and procure a new service it was vital for us to have Healthwatch on board to ensure that feedback from patients was considered and acted upon at every stage of the process. Their contribution has been invaluable, and it has resulted in a service which will offer a range of new benefits to patients very soon.
Our shortlisted nominations:
- The Healthwatch Awards recognise the work of Healthwatch in Sussex on improving Non-Emergency Patient Transport (NEPTS). This is a collaboration between Healthwatch Brighton and Hove, Healthwatch East Sussex and Healthwatch West Sussex. Using people’s feedback to understand people’s experiences of using this Sussex-wide service and how to avoid past failings, we worked closely with NHS Sussex commissioners.
Our recommendations were integrated into the 2023 recommissioning of patient transport services locally, with the new service due to start on 1st April 2025. Patients and service users should see improved communications, clearer guidance around eligibility and better information on alternatives to NEPTS.
Read more about this here.
- The Healthwatch Awards also recognised our work with University Hospitals Trust on developing a patient-led customer satisfaction programme bespoke for our hospitals called ‘Welcome Standards’. Staff are trained to ensure that patients, carers, friends and visitors receive the same level of welcome when they first arrive. The program was developed from a patient charter we recommended the trust should create. We are delighted that this project was also shortlisted in the national UK Customer Satisfaction Awards 2025 in the Best Customer Service Partnership category.
This recognises Healthwatch Brighton and Hove’s and Healthwatch West Sussex’s work in assessing these standards.
Read more about this here.
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