PPlog

See my post of 03.08.07. PPI Independence (click on the title) I've, at last, had a reply from the new acting manager of the NVS Forum Support Organisation who appears to be pleasantly co-operative. This has cleared up my fears of the Chair of the Norfolk PCT Forum being a member of the trust it operates for. it says: Thank you for your enquiry and apologies for the delay in responding to your request. In answer to your questions; I can confirm categorically that no member of the Norfolk PPI Forum is or ever has been during their time as a PPI Forum member an employee or a member of Norfolk PCT . Not applicable Tony Darwood, Chair of the PPI Forum does have a seat on the Board with speaking rights but not voting rights. Esther Harris and David Routledge are the two Deputy Chairs of the Forum and can deputise in Tony’s absence. Tony Darwood is the Norfolk PPI Forum representative on the Norfolk PCT Board, in his absence either of the Deputy Chairs can take that role in representi...

I've had some concerns about how the Disability Equality Duty applies to those private/independent/voluntary organisations which statutory authorities (county councils etc) buy in to perform their social and healthcare functions, i.e. private care homes, foster care, domestic help (what used to be home help), drop in centres, substance misuse agencies, day care, etc. etc. The Disability Equality Duty is a part of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 which required all statutory bodies to publish a Disability Equality Scheme by December 2006. All service users should obtain a copy of these very important documents (downloadable from county council, PCT websites etc or available in hard copy on request). Those statutory organisations failing to observe the DED can be held legally to account by the Disabilty Rights Commission and, now we have some clarification, I suggest those private/independent/voluntary bodies in breach should be reported to their commissioning body (i.e. the st...

We are currently working on the report giving the outcome of the consultation following the Board meeting and we hope to have this out by the end of September 2007. People who gave their contact details when responding to the consultation document will receive a copy of the report (either electronically or hard copy) and it will also be published on the PCT website. The minutes of the last Board meeting, at which the decision was made regarding the intermediate care services review, will go onto the public website within one week of the September Board meeting. This is usual, as minutes are only draft until they are ratified at the next meeting.

Posted today on the National Assocation of Patients' Forums discussion group: Local involvement networks? Plans by Health Minister Ann Keen to abolish Patients’ Forums and replace them with powerless ‘talking shops’ called LINKs to 'share views with the NHS and social care' is a strange way of promoting ‘patient empowerment’! The Government abolishes patients’ groups whenever they become effective. Sharing views is easy, but the evidence shows that to have real influence on NHS and social care services requires experience, persistence and highly effective organisations to challenge the entrenched power of medical, managerial and commercial elites. Their claim that LINKs will be operational from April 2008 is misleading – in most areas they will not meet until late in 2008 or 2009 and will take years to be effective. There will be a long gap in patient involvement when Patients’ Forums close. 'Planning your Local Involvement Network' makes it clear that patients and...

Hello. I've been busy with other things for a week or so - building a family history website. Back to looking at what's happening with local issues again now though and sent this today to the PCT: Hello Trish Turner. I see there are no published decisions as yet from the Board meeting of 24.07.07. Is there a date for final decisions on the proposals and will respondents to the consultation, as is usual, be receiving a final report? I'll keep you posted.

The NHS Centre for Involvement has arranged a major conference" NHS Centre for Involvement in Health and Social Care Involvement to Impact 28th - 29th November 2007 New Connaught Rooms, London, WC2B This conference will explore how different methods of patient and public involvement are making a real difference to the delivery and creation of new and existing health services across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It will also provide you with platform to hear about: * The impact of national developments in Patient and Public Involvement * How NHS organisations can work with new involvement structures to improve commissioning * How the new Local Involvement Networks (LINks) will help ensure that the needs and views of local communities are heard * The impact of regulators on PPI and the achievements of the Centre in its first year This is real progress - just what is needed to demonstrate the integrity of the Government's Patient Centred policy...

Peter Beresford has a very pointed and valuable entry on his blog (click on the title of this piece to go there). This is my comment on his essay. Well said Peter - much applause. Do you remember me asking you about the other national network group at the SoL 10th birthday conference? Your answer was, in so many words: the more the merrier! I was looking at the points in your text and thinking hmmmmm, why does this vibrate like that? But it's so fundamentally sad because while we need to build a cohesive and concerted voice and shouldn't be criticising each other, the the people you talk about (and I and others say the same things in a variety of ways) are wreckers of user involvement. And there are other anomalies difficult to reconcile. I'm currently wrestling with the incidence of members of local PPI Forums having conflicts of interests which compromise PPI Forum independence in the form of membership of the very trust they are set up as the forum for (see my PPlog: htt...

Here's the 1st Association newsletter FYI: Patient and Public Involvement Forums Newsletter of the National Association of Patients’ Forums Members’ Newsletter No 1. July 2007 1. The National Association Members of the National Association were elected by members of Forums through an Electoral Reform Society ballot. There are two members for each Region whose names are shown on the enclosed contact list. We have so far had three national meetings and have been very active since the Association was established in May 2007. Some of our activities are shown below. 2. Our Goals A copy of our initial three months programme is available on request. Our primary goals are to influence Parliament and the D of H to ensure an effective transition from Forums to LINks, and to build a national movement of Forum members which will provide continuity for effective patient and public involvement in health. 3. Parliamentary work A major area of work for the National Association has been to influen...

Last week I sent this to the DED Manager for Norfolk PCT: Hello Jonathan. As chair of the Norfolk Police Authority/Constabulary DED Forum I am also trying tro establish what other public authorities are doing about the Disability Equality Scheme Duties in relation to the private/independent/voluntary bodies commissioned to carry out public body functions. Our Forum already has copy of the Constabulary policy `Procurement and Disability Equality Duty` which outlines `the way in which disability equality should built into the procurement process through all its stages.` Can I please ask if Norfolk PCT has a like written policy and if so, could you please let me have a copy. And got this: Dear Mike Good to hear from you again. This is an interesting question. From scanning the web it looks like the police are ahead of health on this. I am unaware of any specific PCT policies along these lines (some PCTs have a section in their schemes) and think our scheme is light in this regard. I ...

Posted to the National Association of PPI Forms Steering Group today: Hello all. Sad news here. The Norwich and Norfolk Voluntary Services Forum Support Organisation which, after a very shaky start in 2004, became one of the best organisations of its kind. Now, I suspect as a result of the uncertainty created by the LG&PIH Bill has lost it's excellent FSO Chief and at least one of it's most skilled and experienced facilitators. It is, as a result, currently limping and although it has advertised the posts, who in their right minds are going to apply for them? There must be similar problems now arising all over the country with forums leaking members and FSO employees fleeing. Should we not collect examples of this and wave them at the government as a demonstration of the havoc and betrayal of loyal volunteers they are creating?

I posted this to the National Association of PPI Forums Steering Group today: I’m writing about some disquiet I am feeling around the Norfolk PCT PPI Forum and I’m writing to you first in the hope of clearing it up quickly. This is however, copied to PPlog. Since May I’ve been absorbed by disability rights issues and getting ppeyes back on line. In the latter process which entailed reviewing everything previous, I was reminded of the issue around the original Waveney PPI Forum and my formal complaint to CPPIH about that which eventually went to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The Ombusdsman eventually declined the complaint on the grounds it was a ‘personnel matter’ but before that they had begun investigations and CPPIH confessed their mistake. You May have had some knowledge of the issue. It is on ppeyes anyway. The complaint was that the chair of Waveney PPI was also a non-executive director of one of the trusts involved and should not have been appointed to the Forum in the first plac...