Patient and Public Involvement

We want you to ‘Get Involved’

Gloucestershire Care Services are committed to involving patients, carers and people who use services in the planning and decision-making process around the services we provide and commission.

What is Patient and Public Involvement?

It is giving local people a say in how local services are planned, delivered, checked for quality and bought and paid for with public money. It is the active participation of patients, including children, service users, carers, communities and the public in shaping your local health
services.

Why do we do it?

Gloucestershire Care Service wants to engage openly with our patients and communities. We want to be honest and up front about the scope of change that is possible. We will be clear about the context and describe any constraints we may have when we start talking to local people about proposed changes to services (e.g. national targets from the Department of Health).

Principles for involvement

To help us to make the most of involving people we have developed the following set of principles to guide us:

1. We will use what we have learned from involving patients and communities to influence changes in our ways of working, to achieve better outcomes.
2. We will work with patients and communities to agree the ways in which they are involved.
3. We will make every effort to include the widest possible range of people in our work.
4. We will recognise and overcome barriers to involvement.
5. We will value the contribution, expertise and time of patients and communities.
6. We will focus on continuous improvement.
7. We will be clear about the purpose of, and scope for, involving patients and communities in aspects of our work.
8. We will give feedback about the outcome of involvement.

National policies which tell us that we must involve our patients and local residents

We are required by law to involve and consult with patients and the public in the development and planning of our services. We also want to do it!  Gloucestershire Care Service Involvement and Engagement Strategy was approved in June 2008

• NHS Gloucestershire Involvement & Engagement Strategy (.pdf)
  Board Paper June 2008

Section 242 of the Consolidated NHS Act 2006 (previously Section 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001) places a duty on the NHS organisations to make arrangements to involve and consult patients and the public in service planning and operation, and in the development of proposals for changes.  This is a statutory duty, which means consulting and involving:

• not just when a major change is proposed, but in ongoing service planning
• not just in the consideration of a proposal, but in the development of that proposal; and
• in decisions about general service delivery, not just major changes.

More information can be found here at the Department of Health website:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_081089

In addition, Section 7 of the same Act gave Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees (HOSCs) - set up in local authorities with social services responsibilities (including county councils and unitary authorities) - the power to scrutinise health services.  HOSCs:

• take on the role of scrutiny of the NHS - not just major changes but the ongoing operation and planning of services;
• are able to refer contested service changes to the Secretary of State;
• are able to call NHS managers to give information about services and decisions;
• report their recommendations locally;
• have to be consulted by the NHS where there are to be major changes to health services.

The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007

This Act introduces the establishment of Local Involvement Networks (LINks), which replace Patient and Public Involvement Forums (PPIF), and the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health in 2008. The bill also clarifies and strengthens the existing duty on NHS bodies, such as NHS Gloucestershire, to involve and consult patients and the public in the planning and provision of services.

More information can be found here at the Department of Health website:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsLegislation/DH_076445

Useful Links

• The 3 Counties Cancer Network
  The 3 Counties Cancer Network realises the importance of both Involvement and Information for patients, carers and healthcare professionals. This website is designed to keep you informed about meetings, events and local and national updates. It is also the place for people affected by cancer to let us know about issues they would like raised at the User Group meetings via the feedback form. Please promote this website to anyone who would like to have a voice!