Caroline Millar

Over twenty years working in the UK consumer movement has given Caroline a deep and varied expertise with public, private and voluntary sector organisations, their users and customers. For the last fourteen years as a consultant she has advised organisations on user involvement, performance measurement, complaints handling and communications.

Her key interests are public accountability and effective governance in public interest organisations. She was Business Manager of “Public Concern at Work”, a campaign promoting and support public interest whistleblowing and practical advice to employers on public interest concerns in the workplace.

A qualified teacher, Caroline was educated in Scotland and studied at Cambridge and City Universities .

MANAGING THE CONSUMER INTEREST

Caroline has engaged with NHS trusts, utility companies, consumer bodies and government departments in improving customer satisfaction and mechanisms for involving users and customers in decision-making. She has set up and run complex complaints procedures which comply with legal and regulatory requirements. She has produced training materials for managers, employees and consumer representatives, delivered training programmes. Caroline has researched and wrote a report for the National Children’s Bureau looking at the use of Social Enterprise as a means of delivering services for children and young people.

A GREEN FLAG FOR USER INVOLVEMENT

Caroline spent four years as a Non-Executive Director of City and Hackney Primary Care Trust and is currently the lay member if their Provider Board where she leads on patient and public involvement and communications. She was also Vice Chair of the London Passenger Users Committee for several years. She is a parent governor in a primary school in Hackney where she initiated the setting up a of Parents’ Forum and a Parent Council.  She is Vice-Chair of the user group for her local park which recently won its third Green Flag award and a commendation for its effective work with users.

SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES

Caroline worked on a DfES project to develop a toolkit and training programme to support schools in setting up and running Parent Councils and contributed to the department’s recent review of school governance.  She is a consultant to the Family and Parenting Institute for whom she recently wrote a popular guidance leaflet for schools on how to involve parents.  She is currently Vice Chair of the Patient and Carer Liaison Group of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health where she is contributing to a review of lay involvement in the Medical Royal Colleges

MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE

As London Regional Manager for the Office of Water Services (Ofwat) in the early ‘nineties Caroline helped develop links between the regulator, the customers and the newly privatised water companies, managed complaints, developed the first Codes of Practice and helped set standards of service. Caroline was later Business Manager of National Consumer Council Services, a consultancy business run jointly by NCC and Deloitte and Touche.

Caroline at M-A-C

As a M-A-C Associate Caroline worked with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland on a focused consultation on their Patient Focus and Public Involvement Framework during 2006. Since becoming a partner in 2007 she has taken the lead on our work to support schools and local education authorities in developing greater parental involvement.  She has also led on our work to develop greater customer focus in general practice.