Local health and community champion to retire after nearly 50 years

Pat Harris, Chief Executive of Engaging Communities South West (ECSW) and Strategic Lead for us here at Healthwatch in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, will retire on 18 September 2026.

Pat spent 15 years at Torbay Hospital and a further 18 years with Age UK Torbay before helping establish Healthwatch Torbay in 2013. Across each of those roles, a common thread has remained – listening to people, understanding their experiences and making sure their voices are heard.

Over the following 13 years, she helped develop Healthwatch Torbay from a small local service based at Paignton Library into an award-winning community champion, before becoming Strategic Lead for the partnership delivering Healthwatch across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.

Under Pat’s leadership, Healthwatch has helped turn local people’s experiences into real changes in health and social care.

One of its most significant successes followed concerns raised by people receiving care at home in Torbay. Healthwatch escalated those concerns to the Care Quality Commission, contributing to an inspection which saw the provider rated Inadequate and placed into special measures. Services were later recommissioned, with Torbay Council describing Healthwatch’s contribution as “invaluable”. The work received national recognition in 2017 and was commended again in the National Healthwatch Impact Awards in 2024. 

Healthwatch Torbay also developed an innovative online rate-and-review system which spread across the South West, while its Digital Inclusion work helped hundreds of people learn how to book appointments, order prescriptions and access health support online – earning a national Highly Commended award in 2018. 

Its work has reached people of all ages. In 2018, Healthwatch heard from more than 1,900 children and young people about life in Torbay, while more recent research involving unpaid carers helped inform a House of Commons inquiry into adult social care reform.

Alongside her Healthwatch leadership, Pat has also led the separate work of Engaging Communities South West, helping strengthen community support and collaboration across Torbay. This has included the development of Paignton Community Hub and work across Torbay’s voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.

Healthwatch Torbay was among the founding partners of the Torbay Community Helpline during the COVID pandemic and a key founding member of the Torbay VCSE Health and Wellbeing Network. Today ECSW runs the Community Hub and Network and remains a lead Helpline partner, providing accessible routes into health, wellbeing, advice and community support.

Pat has also helped take Torbay’s voice far beyond the Bay. She visited Westminster with Healthwatch on two occasions, meeting MPs and national decision-makers, and has represented local people at national events.

Healthwatch Torbay’s work also attracted international interest. Eleven delegates from Seoul Metropolitan Government visited to learn how patient feedback was being used to shape services, taking that learning back to South Korea as they developed their own healthcare system. 

Dr Kevin Dixon, Chair of Healthwatch in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, said:

“Pat has been at the heart of Healthwatch in Torbay from the very beginning. Her warmth, judgement and determination to put people first have helped bring about real change for local people.

“She has never been afraid to challenge when something is wrong, but she has always done it fairly and with a belief in working together.

“Pat will be enormously missed – as a leader, colleague and friend. But the partnerships she has built and, above all, the voices she has helped strengthen will remain a lasting legacy.”

Pat has made clear that retirement will not mean turning her back on the community that has been at the heart of her career, and she hopes to continue giving something back. Reflecting on her career in Healthwatch’s latest Annual Report, Pat said:

“Services change, structures change and legislation changes – but the need to listen to people, independently and with respect, remains constant.”

Pat’s retirement comes during a period of significant national change for Healthwatch, but was planned independently of the Government’s proposals for the future of the service.

The partnership delivering Healthwatch locally is continuing to drive forward its work across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay – listening to local people, sharing evidence with decision-makers and making sure independent public voice remains at the heart of health and care during this period of change.