A new organisation created to help Barnet residents get the best from their health and social care services was launched yesterday.

Healthwatch Barnet is an independent organisation set up to represent the interests of patients at Barnet Borough Council’s health, the newly-created Clinical Commissioning Group and other health groups.

At its launch yesterday in the Jewish Care centre in Golders Green Lane, head of Healthwatch Barnet Selena Rodrigues stressed the importance of the organisation in preventing abuses such as those at Winterbourne View or Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust.

She said: “We will be engaging and reaching out to listen to the most vulnerable people in our borough to hear what they have to say about Health and Social services and enable them to have their voice heard.”

She said Healthwatch members would be going out around the borough to tell community groups what Healthwatch means and find out how to best engage with the public.

Healthwatch will be working closely with organisations including the Citizens Advice Bureau, Age UK in Barnet and Barnet Mencap.

She added: “We will make use of pooled expertise and resources and will build relationships so we can question and challenge.”

The organisation currently has two and a half staff but will soon be appointing a policy and research analyst who would examine the evidence and data and feedback provided by hospitals and patients.

Gillian Jordan, chairman of the Barnet Link - the organisation Healthwatch replaced, said the work of Healthwatch depended on a network of volunteers who would “find evidence and put to the group things they could change for the better”.

Chairman of Barnet and Chase Farm Hospital NHS Trust Baroness Margaret Wall welcomed the arrival of Healthwatch Barnet and that it would ensure the hospital knew what patients felt about its services and how they could be improved.

She said: “We need to know what you think, if we’re not doing it right for you, what is the point in doing it?”

Healthwatch Barnet, though part of an independent organisation, currently receives about £180,000 in funding from the borough.

Carers representative Andrew Cowan, who previously worked on Barnet Link, said he was worried Healthwatch had not been given the funds to truly be a voice for patients, especially since Barnet Council controlled the purse strings. 

However he said Ms Rodrigues had "extensive" experience in raising funding and the organisation would be succesful if it worked as a catalyst to "spearhead innovation among partners and grassroots". 

He added: "This is an excellent opportunity if Healthwatch rises to the potential for truly bottom up change."

Nick Goldberg of Save Barnet NHS added, though he welcomed Healthwatch Barnet in principal he thought lack of funding would mean it was a “toothless beast.”