Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to ensure their services are accessible to people with disabilities. This includes making reasonable adjustments—changes in how services are delivered so everyone can access care fairly and equally.

💡 What’s new?

A new information standard, published in December 2025, requires all publicly funded National Health Service (NHS), health, and social care providers to:

• ✔️ Record
• ✔️ Share
• ✔️ Act on

your reasonable adjustment needs through the National Care Records Service (NCRS).

🗓️ Deadline for implementation: 30 September 2026

This means your needs—such as communication support, longer appointments, or information in accessible formats—should be clearly recorded and consistently followed across services.

✅ Why this matters

You shouldn’t have to repeat your needs or face barriers when accessing care. These changes aim to make services more inclusive, consistent, and person-centred, ensuring you receive the support you are entitled to.

🤝 How Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire can help

If you feel services in Central Bedfordshire are not making the reasonable adjustments you need, we’re here to support you. We can:

• ✔️ Listen to your experience in confidence
• ✔️ Help you understand your rights
• ✔️ Signpost you to local complaints or advocacy services
• ✔️ Share your feedback with NHS and care providers to help improve services locally

📩 Get in touch

Share your experience with us and help improve services for everyone in Central Bedfordshire.

📞 0300 303 8554
✉️ info@healthwatch-centralbedfordshire.org.uk

On Wednesday 15 April 2026, the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) vascular hub will be relocating from Bedford Hospital to Luton and Dunstable University Hospital (L&D).

The new Vascular Centre will feature two state‑of‑the‑art hybrid operating theatres, providing facilities for both open and endovascular surgery.

Modern vascular surgery increasingly relies on a combination of traditional open techniques and minimally invasive endovascular procedures. The new hybrid theatres integrate advanced, high‑resolution imaging systems within a fully equipped surgical environment, enabling clinicians to switch seamlessly between approaches during the same operation.

Key benefits for patients:

• Better theatre and imaging facilities will improve the quality of treatments and have shorter operative times, which in turn will improve patient outcomes
• Modern machines have inbuilt radiation reduction protocols which provides further protection to patient and staff from harmful radiation
• Enhanced access to high-qualitycare by a small volume of specialist staff
• Improved patient outcomes, increased patient satisfaction, shorter length of stay and reduction in readmission rate
• Opportunities for closer integration with co-located interdependent services such as the Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU)
• Increase overall operating theatre capacity for Bedfordshire residents resulting in reduced waiting times for vascular procedures across BLMK and creating additional theatre availability at Bedford Hospital for other surgical specialties, improving access for patients local to Bedford.

Key benefits for staff:  

• Hybrid theatre provision and fit for purpose Vascular Interventional Radiology (VIR) facilities – co-located in a theatre environment to facilitate high level of integration of the vascular and IR clinicians and an integrated team of specialist support / technical staff (including interventional radiographers)
• Attract and retain high quality specialist clinical staff
• Allow the team to develop new services
• Service and workforce resilience – the concentration of the wider clinical team with other acute interdependent services onto the L&D site should mean greater resilience for the service
• Fully compliant with national guidance from Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) and the Vascular Society

From 15 April, all major vascular surgery, vascular interventional radiology procedures, and emergency or planned vascular admissions will take place at the L&D. In‑patients will be cared for on Ward 20, located adjacent to a newly refurbished area that will house the vascular outpatient clinic and a new vascular laboratory.

Most outpatient appointments, diagnostics, and minor procedures – including varicose vein surgery – will continue to be delivered at patients’ local hospitals in Bedford, Milton Keynes, or Luton.

The new centre will be staffed by an expanded multidisciplinary team, including 10 vascular and endovascular surgeons, an associate specialist, two specialist trainees, four senior clinical fellows and four specialist nurses.

As part of the service redesign, the vascular team has worked closely with colleagues across the network to streamline pathways and introduce new services. These include a Limb Salvage Clinic, a one‑stop service for patients with critical limb‑threatening ischaemia, and a forthcoming one‑stop chronic wound care clinic.

This investment represents a major step forward in delivering high‑quality, modern vascular care for the BLMK population.

The government has published new, evidence‑
informed guidance to help parents of under 5s navigate screen time, offering practical advice to support informed choices to help little brains develop healthy screen habits.

For babies and toddlers under 2, avoid screens, except for shared family activities that encourage bonding and interaction. For 2–5s, try to keep it to no more than an hour a day – less where possible. Choose slow-paced content with simple stories and clear speech, as fast-paced, over-stimulating social media-style videos may affect how young children learn to concentrate, so it’s best to avoid them.

Keep mealtimes and bedrooms screen-free, and try swapping screens for reading, play, and conversation. Young children copy your habits, so try to limit your own screen use around them. An important point to remember is that screens shouldn’t replace a young children’s sleep, physical activity, play or quality time.

For more advice on how to help little brains to develop healthy screen habits visit the Best Start in Life website.

This Share for Better Care Week, take three minutes to share your experience of health and social care.

Your voice plays a vital role in making services better. Every experience shared can help highlight what works and what could be better when it comes to your care.

Research shows the overwhelming majority of people in England – nearly 90% – want to see care improve. But nearly one in five people – 19% – don’t think they have time to share their story. And two in five – 40% – aren’t sure of where and how to give their feedback.

How do I get involved?

Luckily, it’s quicker and easier than you think. You can talk about any experience of care via Healthwatch England’s webform.

It takes just three minutes to fill in – the time it takes for the kettle to boil, or to wait for the bus.

You can share your story in as much or as little detail as you like. It can be about anything, from something as large as your journey through cancer treatment to smaller experiences like the meals you had in hospital.

Every story matters, and every story, good or bad, helps care services hear what works and what could be better when it comes to your support.

Why it matters

Sharing your experiences helps NHS and social care leaders understand what’s working well and what could be improved. The more people who tell their stories, the stronger the case for making changes if they’re needed. You can also share your feedback via our Feedback Centre: https://healthwatch-centralbedfordshire.org.uk/view-leave-feedback.

Residents across Central Bedfordshire are benefiting from high‑quality, person‑centred adult social care, according to a new Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessment that praises Central Bedfordshire Council’s (CBC) strong leadership, effective partnerships, and commitment to improving people’s lives.

The CQC carried out an inspection in November 2025 as part of its new framework for evaluating how well local authorities are delivering Care Act duties. Inspectors rated CBC as ‘good’ after they examined how effectively people can access the support they need, how well services are led, and the quality of residents’ experiences throughout the care journey.

The assessment found that residents are supported by knowledgeable, caring staff who listen and place people’s voices at the heart of assessments and care planning. Residents also described feeling respected, involved in decisions, and well supported through timely and preventative services.

CBC deliver a wide range of adult social care services, including assessing people’s needs, connecting them with appropriate support, helping residents stay independent for longer, supporting people with additional needs into employment, and offering advice to those facing crisis.

To find out more about adult social care in Central Bedfordshire, please visit the council’s website: www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/health-social-care

Join Sir Jonathan Pryce and the thousands of campaigners calling on the Government to deliver a bold and ambitious dementia plan!

The government is currently working on a new plan for dementia – the ‘Modern Service Framework for Dementia and Frailty’ for the NHS in England. This gives Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friends a once-in-a-generation opportunity to influence dementia policy.

Recently they launched an Open Letter calling on the government to deliver a bold and ambitious plan for dementia. That open letter has already been supported by Alzheimer’s Society Ambassadors like Jonathan Pryce, people living with dementia, and thousands of campaigners.

To make this moment count and build a future where people affected by dementia are a priority, we need to speak with one voice and demand better for everyone affected by dementia.

Sign the open letter today

The King’s Fund has published a report on the future of patient voice, following the government’s announcement to abolish Healthwatch and transfer its functions into other parts of the system.

This report provides a timely and important reflection on what has been learned from the Healthwatch model and what needs to be considered as new arrangements are developed.

In summary, the key messages are:

• Healthwatch’s independence has been fundamental to its credibility and its ability to raise concerns on behalf of patients and communities.
• Its strong local relationships, particularly with seldom-heard groups, and its ability to gather rich qualitative insight have been significant strengths.
• The “hub and spoke” model has enabled local intelligence to inform national policy and vice versa.
• However, its impact has been constrained by limited statutory powers, meaning it has not always been able to ensure that issues identified lead to meaningful change.
• Ongoing reductions and variation in funding, alongside commissioning arrangements, have contributed to inconsistency in capacity and impact across the network.

The King’s Fund is clear that any future model must retain independence, strengthen the link between insight and action, and maintain a strong local presence.

Diana Blackmun, Chief Executive, Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire said,

While the report is robust and evidence-based, it is not yet clear how far its conclusions will influence national decision-making. In particular, there remains uncertainty as to whether sufficient weight will be given to the central recommendation that any future patient voice function must be both independent of the system it scrutinises and equipped with stronger powers to drive change.

There is a real risk that, without these safeguards, the proposed reforms could dilute rather than strengthen the role of patient and public voice, particularly if responsibility is absorbed into existing system structures without clear mechanisms for challenge and accountability.

It is also unclear what level of traction the report will gain within central government, given the pace and scale of wider system reforms currently underway. This reinforces the importance of continued advocacy to ensure that the essential principles identified, independence, influence, and the ability to translate insight into action, are not lost in implementation.

This is clearly a pivotal moment. While there are risks, there is also an opportunity to strengthen how patient voice is embedded within the system, provided the right decisions are taken.