PPlog

I have also written to Norfolk LINks: David Hayman, LINks Lead, Norfolk County Council, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR1 2UU. Hello Mr Hayman. Formal Complaint On 21.09.07. I contacted the Norfolk Links Lead Person (not you at that time) to ask: “Can I please ask you to include me in any meetings you organise and to include meeting venues accessible to people who live in this area. I live in an area of Norfolk generally socially excluded from most community development activities and too many of those activities turn out to be Norwich-centric - not easily accessible for those hard to reach people with disabilities. My address is: (as above) Between then and the end of March this year I was in regular touch with you expressing a keen interest and asking to be kept informed. On 24.03.08. I mailed you saying: “As the 31st and the demise of PPI Forums approaches, you must by now have the interim body in place to continue necessary work... can you please let me have de...

Dame Jane Campbell is Chair of the EHCR Disability Committee. Guardian Society today published a feature by her which is essential reading. For years I have known her as one of the ‘goodies’ and my admiration and respect for her says that she would not betray her role. I have then written to her in response to her speech: Dame Jane Campbell, Chair, EHCR Disability Committee, 3 More London, Riverside Tooley Street, London, SE1 2RG Hello Dame Jane. This letter is in response to the extract from your Cambridge speech printed in Guardian Society today. I would like to say at the start that since, as a then active member of the BASW Mental Health Special Interest Group, I heard you speak at a BASW AGM fringe meeting at Malvern many years ago, you have been something of an icon for me and your words encouraged and stimulated my broader interests in disability rights and independence and greatly reinforced my belief in the value of service user involvement. In the Guardian Societ...

I have to record my sadness at the passing of a great artist. Humph has been with me for most of my life: from teen years in the early 1950s when I was disk jockey at our youth centre and his Fish Seller and The Martinique were particular favourites. I used to whistle a separate clarinet obligato to his records long before I could actually play the instrument. His mates were also formative influences in my own playing: Wally Fawkes - Trog, the creator of the cartoon, Flook, Bruce Turner - still one of the UK’s most creative alto sax players and, of course, one of his own influences with whom he later had a brief but productive partnership: Buck Clayton. And an enormous saving feature of Humph’s bands which gave much needed relief from pain (like ceasing to rub your knees against a brick wall) - he didn’t use a banjo!!!!! Humph has given nothing but pleasure. From his playing; from his bandleading; from his composing; from his arranging; from his writing; and from hi...

I’ve been quiet for a while - weary of the vacuous and sometimes downright deceitful words of government and their QUANGOS and angry at public body tokenism which cynically exploits the good will of volunteers and service user involvement. The catalyst to this state of mind was finding out that the Norfolk Police Disability Forum of which I was Chair and which had carried so much optimism about public body intentions for me has been either disregarding the Forum altogether or using it as a token reason for them doing the minimum to comply with Disability Discrimination legislation: - they had to engage with disabled people by law so they have done this by setting up their Disability Forum and then (again under the cover of fine, empty words) have just left it to ‘talk amongst itself’ whilst functions it was set up to perform just bypass it and nil resources are allocated to it. I resigned. And there are many indications that some local authorities, PCTs and hospital trusts are also doi...

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LINks MEMBERS Patient and Public Involvement in Health and Social Care National body of health activists launched The National Association of LINks Members (NALM) was launched on April 1st 2008 to coincide with the establishment by the Government of Local Involvement Networks. These bodies will monitor health and social care across England and replace Patients’ Forums. For the second time in five years, the DH has abolished PPI organisations across the country and dislocated the monitoring of health care by local people. NALM is concerned that the new, poorly-funded LINks organisations could take years to recruit effective membership and establish themselves. NALM is national, member-led organisation which will campaign for effective patient and public involvement (PPI) and greater democracy in health and social care services. It will attempt directly to influence Ministers in the Department of Health and in the Department of Communities and Local Government, on...