National Voices’ members, staff and trustees have been raising our members’ concerns at key events and fora.
We been working together particularly on our priorities to increase shared decision making, making sure we have a strong HealthWatch and calling for a strong service user voice in commissioning.
We are in discussion with national bodies, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners, on taking forward these issues on behalf of members and patients. See below for more key events and moments.
All Party Parliamentary Group, Primary Care and Public Health.
National Voices provided oral and written submissions to the All Party Parliamentary Group, Primary Care and Public Health. The group is conducting an inquiry into NHS commissioning. Click here to see National Voices’ written submission. Thank you to National Voices’ members for their input to our response to the White Paper which was the basis for our submission on this occasion.
Jeremy Taylor gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Health Select Committee as one of a panel of four witnesses representing National Voices, Patients Association, MIND and Age UK. The subject was commissioning. Jeremy reinforced the points made in our written submission and there was a strong consensus from the panel, in particular on the need for commissioning to be holistic, to fully involve patients and citizens, and to be fair to those whose needs are not properly met. The Committee was also interested in the impact of efficiency savings and cuts being experienced now.
Capita Conference: Patient Choice. We took part in a panel discussion on the kinds of choice service users are calling for, such as shared decision making, and also the dangers of relying too much on choice to improve quality of care.
Launch of the new College of Medicine We raised the possibility of a new Hippocratic Oath for the 21st century as suggested at the National Voices’ Members Conference. For more on the newwww.collegeofmedicine.org.uk
Media comment: read Jeremy Taylor on Health Inequalities on NHSmanagers.net. Read National Voices’ Trustee, Angela Coulter on why treatment choice is more popular with service users than provider choice in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Angela also contributed to a BMJ article on the implementation of shared decision making.
Conference: A Practical Guide to handling, resolving and learning from Complaints National Voices emphasised the vital importance of listening to patients and service users, resolving issues early before they became major complaints and saying sorry when things go wrong.
Conference: Responsible Citizens and Patients – are we there yet? National Voices took part in this joint Royal College of GPs/ The Proprietary Association of Great Britain event. Our message was: do more to support self care: but don’t stigmatise people with minor illnesses who are sometimes characterised as “wasting” doctors’ time. Click here to see a video of Jeremy Taylor at this conference.
Conference: Measuring, Monitoring and Improving Clinical Patient and Health Outcomes National Voices emphasised the importance of using patient reported outcomes to drive quality improvement.
Capita Conference: Improving Clinical Effectiveness Conference. We talked about improving results through effective engagement.
Facing the Care Challenge National Voices spoke about the importance of leadership in nursing: leadership as an essential component of professionalism; a focus on the patient as the essential component of leadership.
Making difficult commissioning decisions: how can existing patient experience research help?National Voices attended the launch of a new approach to commissioning based on patient experience. See ‘Putting people at the centre of GP commissioning’ below for more information.
Transformation BoardNational Voices is represented on the National Association of LINks Members’ Transformation Board which is working to propose a workable and influential model for development of HealthWatch.
National Voices Conference, 16 September 2010. See the Conference Report Many thanks to all who attended and contributed comments and ideas.
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