Too good to be true – says who?

Sainsbury’s has come up with the bright idea of offering GPs free premises in their stores or on their property.  Currently there are 27 such surgeries across the country and there are more to come.  The Man from Sainsbury’s has been asking people what they think of it so far: “Customers... 
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Leaders: resigning, recruiting, refreshing

Last week Paul Twivy former CEO of the Big Society Network wrote an article in the Guardian explaining why he believes that the government’s flagship policy died an early death.  His analysis provides food for thought for anyone involved in working with local communities.  The biggest problem... 
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Start It Up! Healthy start to Healthwatch in Hackney

Over the past six months we have been working with  Hackney Council to help them with the development of a local Healthwatch in Hackney.  The new organisation will be launched on 1 April 2013.  Hackney was keen to find out what local stakeholders in health, social care and the voluntary and community... 
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The Road to Hell – when good intentions just aren’t enough

Here at MAC we get about a bit.  We meet all sorts of people with great ideas about how to engage well with service users and the public but every so often we meet people who are so ground down by it all that they don’t know where to turn.  The frontline of user involvement can sometimes be... 
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Are they bovvered? Are we?

Like many of our readers, I spend a lot of my time trying to encourage public organisations and service providers to reach out and involve more people in their decision-making, to go beyond the people they normally hear from.   People want to be involved and so you have to involve them, I tell them.... 
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Patient centred GP care? Over my dead body, say staff

My kids are a pretty healthy bunch but after the fourteen year old had been lying groaning on her bed and refusing to eat for five days I thought I might take her to the doctor just to check that she was not dying or at risk of starving to death (there is not much to her as it is).  But then I thought... 
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Local school commissioners: be our heroes, but listen first

With utter predictability, Sir Michael Wilshaw, the man with the most self-aggrandising title in education, has just had a promotion.  The  ”Founding Principal” of the politicians’  favourite school, Mossbourne Academy, and poster boy of the government’s blazers-for-all approach... 
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Engagement in 2012: a balancing act amidst the sound and fury

Here at MAC we always like to say that the best time to engage with people is when they can see the point of engaging, when there is something to fight for or against.   Number One in the Reasons to Engage Top Ten is “Taking It Away”.   We see this in the NHS – the mere mention that... 
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Parental Fingers on the Inspection Trigger

On April Fools’ Day we reported that the schools’ inspector Ofsted was considering giving parents the right to tell them directly what they thought of their children’s schools.  The teaching unions seemed to think it was a joke in bad taste but Ofsted, true to its word, has now launched... 
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Top Site, Top Dogs, Top of the Agenda? Everyone’s a winner.

Like most local community groups, the Clissold Park User Group (CPUG) often struggles to get people to understand its role.  As the current Chair of the group I can see that the higher our profile and the more professional we look, the less people think we are really a community group.  If you... 
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