Scrapping a watchdog that helps patients raise concerns about their health care risks paving the way for another NHS scandal, critics have warned.
Alex Stewart, chief executive of Healthwatch Norfolk, which was set up to champion the views of patients, said dismantling the independent organisation could threaten public safety and scrutiny of the county's health systems.
A year ago, the then-health secretary Wes Streeting announced all Healthwatch organisations, including Norfolk's, would be axed as part of the government's 10-year plan for the NHS.
It would see all local branches of the organisation scrapped and patient feedback instead given through the Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board.
Critics, including Dr Wendy Taylor MBE, chair of the Local Government Association's health and wellbeing committee, have said that is effectively asking the NHS to "mark its own homework".
The Healthwatch groups were created in 2012 after the Mid Staffordshire NHS scandal, where systemic failings in care at Stafford Hospital contributed to hundreds of unnecessary deaths.
And Mr Stewart warned abolishing Healthwatch risked a lack of independent scrutiny and could see such situations happen again.
He said: "To cease the statutory functions of Healthwatch without a suitable alternative in place – one that inspires the same level of trust and confidence as the body it is replacing - is to risk another major failing in patient safety and scrutiny of the health system.
"This is a risk the NHS can ill afford at a time of huge change and when public confidence in our health system is already fragile. It is more important than ever that independent patient voice is defended, not silenced.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We are reforming how the NHS operates to make it easier to access care.
"We value the work of local Healthwatch organisations, but these changes will give patients and service users a stronger, clearer voice at the heart of health and social care.
"By bringing the patient voice closer to decision-makers, people's experiences will have a more direct impact on services."
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