Schools need lessons in complaint handling

When I first became a school governor six years ago, I was taken aback to discover that the thing which the school called its “complaints policy” (when they actually managed to locate a dusty photocopy at the back of a filing cabinet) was something which would barely be worthy of the name... 
[Continue reading]

“Engagement” isn’t enough – only “Involvement” can influence commissioning

Have you noticed that PPI is being eased aside by many NHS bodies in favour of PPE?  The “patient and public” (PP) part is unchanged, but in the new rubric  “E is for engagement” and “I for involvement” is falling off the page.  We should be concerned if the “I-word” has been waylaid... 
[Continue reading]

Policy Governance® UK Case History: Val Moore hears how it works in Foundation Trusts

It was great to see John Bruce and John Gilham, the Chairman and Chief Executive respectively of Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust demonstrating how Policy Governance® (PG) worked for them as they set out the case history of their experience in launching and managing the UK’s most... 
[Continue reading]

Complaint Data – common themes confirmed in different surveys

It gets a little dispiriting if you work with complaints and complainants to see the same old messages emerge in survey after survey as the years go by. If I was a complainant, I would be tempted to be very rude to the next person who wanted me to complete a survey about the experience I had with my... 
[Continue reading]

No Authority? Then No Accountability – the Policy Governance® View on the NHS Constitution

The consultation on the proposed NHS Constitution closed last week. The UK Policy Governance Association (UKPGA) said it all for us in their submission.  M-A-C partners have been big fans of the “policy governance”® approach for public sector boards and Valerie Moore is an accredited PG practitioner.... 
[Continue reading]

“Local socialism” trumps “post code lottery” in the NHS debate

I’m thinking about starting a list of unhelpful phrases about the NHS and top of the list is going to be “post code lottery”. “London NHS care is postcode lottery” screamed the Evening Standard recently in response to a study from the Kings Fund showing variations in what London PCTs spend... 
[Continue reading]

Paying for Participation

We have talked before about the role of cash incentives in getting people engaged with their Health Service. So when we saw this on the BBC News site, we wondered who else was using this or other cash-type rewards? It opens the intriguing concept of cash-based competition between public bodies –... 
[Continue reading]

Public engagement requires corporate endeavour

So says Healthcare for London (the Capital’s own Darzi “vision for better healthcare”) in a refreshingly short and to the point discussion from a recent workshop on patient, user and public engagement and – wait for it – empowerment.   In governance terms, we certainly... 
[Continue reading]