Position Papers
Recent Articles
Services for people with long term neurological conditions are getting worse. Patient and carers are NOT at the heart of commissioning where they should be. MAC’s memorandum of evidence to the Public Accounts Committee hearing into this in January tries to bang the drum about what’s wrong. But why are there not lots more people and organisations shouting about this? You can bet there would be if the subject was heart disease or cancer. Scandalous really.
We have taken advantage of the pause for thought to make 10 points that expand on our thoughts on the best way to involve patients and be accountable to them. We believe that GPs must earn the right to commission services on behalf of their patients by providing evidence they serve their patients well. We say NO to Health and Wellbeing Boards but do think that commissioning organisations be democratically accountable with patient groups integrated into Consortium Governance. Local government can say yes or no but whatever the decision, it cannot interfere for the next two years. Finally we have a right to know how our views have been taken into account and if Commissioning Boards are doing a good job, they can have more money to spend on their patients.
The Committee invited us to give evidence on the accountability arrangements in the Bill. We followed this with a written submission. Our main message: the public and patients are the moral owners of the health service – no commissioning about us, without us. Public and user involvement should begin in GP practices and their views and experiences should inform decision-making at every level.
We are all asked to participate now using our skills and time to make a contribution to the Big Society. This is a story of such a contribution based on the experience of being the frontman for a group of leaseholders living in a block of flats in London who challenged the service charges in a action before the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.
Engaging patients in the delivery of primary care is important for everyone: for commissioners, for general practice and for patients themselves. Increasingly GPs are being expected to demonstrate that they are patient focussed and that they are not just listening to patients, but actively involving them in decision-making.
- A Patient Participation Case History From Primary Care (PDF, 275Kb)Written by The Moore Adamson Craig Partnership
Older Public Involvement Blog posts
A number of other posts also feature on the first incarnation of the Public Involvement blog with articles posted from 2003-2007.
- Archived Public Involvement Blog posts (opens in a new window)