Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Community Health Council

Community Health Councils were established in England and Wales in 1974 "to represent the interests in the health service of the public in its district" (National Health Service Reorganisation Act, 1973). Often referred to as 'the patient’s voice in the NHS', each Community Health Council (CHC) served the public and patients in its local area by representing their interests to National Health Service (NHS) authorities and by monitoring the provision of health services to their communities.

CHCs were independent statutory bodies with certain legal powers. CHCs were entitled to receive information about local health services, to be consulted about changes to health service provision, and to carry out monitoring visits to NHS facilities. They also had the power to refer decisions about proposed closures of NHS facilities to the Secretary of State for Health. For this reason, CHCs were sometimes known as the ‘watchdogs’ of the NHS. The co-ordinated monitoring of waiting times in Accident and Emergency departments led to ‘Casualty Watch’ which gained national press coverage. Locally, many CHCs represented patients’ views by campaigning for improved quality of care and better access to NHS services, and by responding to local issues such as proposed hospital closures.

Each CHC had around 20 voluntary members from the local area. Half were appointed the local authority, a third were elected from voluntary bodies and the remainder were appointed by the Secretary of State for Health. Members met every month to six weeks and meetings were usually open to the general public. Guest speakers or guest attendees were often invited, particularly when a specific topic or issue was under discussion.

All CHCs employed a small number of paid office staff and some had shop-front offices, often on the high street, where members of the public could go for advice and information about local NHS services. CHCs published leaflets and guidance on a wide variety of topics from ‘how to find a GP’ to ‘how to make a complaint’.

Within the guiding principles and statutory duties of the legislation, CHCs developed organically in response to the needs of the communities they served and for this reason considerable variation can be found in the records of different CHCs.

Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster Community Health Council was created in April 1995. The area had formerly been served by Parkside Community Health Council. Parkside CHC was created around the same time that Parkside District Health Authority was created in 1988 through the amalgamation of the Paddington & North Kensington and the Brent District Health Authorities. The CHCs appear to have amalgamated also, Paddington & North Kensington CHC combining with Brent CHC to create Parkside CHC. In 1990 Parkside District was enlarged through the addition of a part of the City of Westminster from the abolished Bloomsbury District. Parkside District Health Authority was abolished in 1993 and replaced by Brent & Harrow District Health Authority and Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster District Health Authority. With the abolition of the Parkside District Health Authority, Parkside CHC was wound up. In the Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster District Health Authority area it was replaced by the newly-formed Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster Community Health Council. The offices of the CHC at 45-47 Praed Street remained in use by the new CHC. In the Brent & Harrow District Health Authority area Parkside CHC was replaced by Brent CHC (see LMA/4752).

Community Health Councils in England were abolished in 2003 as part of the ‘NHS Plan (2000)’.