Finding the voice of the people in the pandemic

On 23 March 2020, the UK government issued a broad range of advice and regulations intended to curb the spread of COVID-19 and prevent the National Health Service (NHS) from being overwhelmed by people needing care. At that time, our research team was in the midst of a 30-month study aimed at exploring the work of Healthwatch, England’s statutory organisation with responsibility for championing the views of citizens in the commissioning and provision of health and social care services in each of the country’s 152 local authorities (see Box 6.1).