1.    National Voices’ update

2.    Health and social care news

3.    News from National Voices’ partners and friends

4.    Consultations and involvement opportunities

With a health and social care revolution on the horizon, the coalition government has given a clear commitment to putting the user at the heart of decision making.

Click here for a link to the government's recent Health White Paper. National Voices' chief executive, Jeremy Taylor said:  “National Voices welcomes the vision of patients and professionals driving change together but it mustn’t just become a charter for the most articulate. Everyone needs a voice”. He also outlined some key tests of the paper’s effectiveness. See our news release here.

The government intends to publish five consultation documents on health and social care. The first of these can be found here. At National Voices we are working urgently on a process to respond to these and will be in touch with you soon to ask for views.

Meanwhile we are delighted to introduce Sarah Scadding, our new membership and engagement coordinator. Sarah will be a first point of contact for all service user panellists and comes to us from The Shaw Trust where she was a graduate engagement and marketing officer. You can contact Sarah atsarah.scadding@nationalvoices.org.uk or on 020 3176 0735. Click here to see the full National Voices staff team.

Thank you for your patience with us as we bridged the gap between permanent staff. Our thanks also go to Laurence Whittle who helped out in the interim period. As many of you know Laurence has now joined NHS North East London Foundation Trust and I know you will all join us in wishing him the very best in his new role.

Kind regards, 

Jules Acton

Director of engagement and membership

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1.  National Voices’ update

We co-hosted Andrew Lansley’s first speech as Secretary of State on 8 June. Thank you to all those of you who took part.

Paul Streets, director of patient and public experience at the Department of Health, met our National Assembly on 16 June and was warned that the Government must not rush its implementation of reforms; must consult and involve and must do more to narrow health inequalities. We subsequently sent him this paper.

National Assembly members also discussed the developing government agenda with Nigel Edwards, interim chief executive at the NHS Confederation, and lay participation on health boards with Elisabeth Buggins, CBE, Chair of NHS West Midlands.

National Voices chief executive Jeremy Taylor was recently invited to join the social care reference group chaired by the minister for care services, Paul Burstow, which met on 22 June. The minister presented a positive vision of social care reform, including the intention that the new social care commission on future funding will report by July 2011.

Jeremy Taylor spoke at the NHS Confederation conference on 25 June to an audience of NHS managers and clinicians. He said that the government must be true to its word in “seeing the service through users’ eyes” as it implemented its reforms. Jeremy urged NHS leaders to exert real leadership in the interests of patients and families, at this time of uncertainty and change – just when leadership is most needed. He urged the medical profession to get real about sharing decisions with patients.

On 30 June, as a partner of the NHS Alliance, National Voices supported the launch of “Whose NHS is it anyway” in the House of Lords, attended by Earl Howe, minister for quality at the Department of Health. Click here to read the paper, to which National Voices contributed.

National Voices’ chief executive, Jeremy Taylor gave two interviews on the White Paper; speaking live to the BBC News Channel and giving a pre-recorded interview to ITN. As above, we welcomed the vision of patients and professionals driving change together but stressed the need to include the most vulnerable.

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2.  Health and social care news

Nick Richards Award 2010 for improvement in patient care

Picker Institute Europe is inviting healthcare staff to apply for their quality improvement award. Healthcare teams will need to provide evidence of: culture of working with patients; commitment to improving quality; support at executive level; nominated person to lead this work. This is open to all areas of healthcare, public, private and third sector. The deadline for applications is 30 July. Seehttp://www.pickereurope.org/

HSJ supplement: ‘The patient will see you now’

The Health Service Journal (HSJ) and the Health Foundation have published a supplement, ‘The patient will see you now’, exploring how changing the interaction between patients and service providers can be a driver for improving quality. It presents research and evidence as well as showcasing good practice case studies. An online version is available on the Health Foundation webpage.

NICE launch quality standards for Dementia, Stroke and VTE Prevention

NICE has launched quality standards for Dementia, Stroke and VTE prevention. The quality standard for Specialist Neonatal Care will launch later this year.

NHS Confederation comments on the NAO health inequalities report

The NHS confederation has commented on the National Audit Office report on the need to embed health inequalities in NHS policies and planning frameworks. More information can be found on the NHS Confederation’s webpage.

National Voices’ work to influence social care policy

National Voices has taken several opportunities to emphasise to ministers that reform of health and social care must join up. See information on the Social Care Reference Group above in section 1.

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3.  News from National Voices’ partners and friends

NACC rebranded with new name Crohn’s and Colitis UK

The National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease (NACC) has rebranded with the new working name “Crohn’s and Colitis UK” to help them achieve better awareness for these inflammatory bowel diseases. More information on the rebrand is available in this online leaflet.

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4.  Consultations and involvement opportunities

Future opportunities to respond to government consultations

The Department of Health has said that:

“Today’s White Paper is the start of an extensive consultation that will take place over the coming weeks. The Department of Health will shortly be publishing a number of consultation documents to seek views on more detailed proposals.”

National Voices will update members when we have more details on opportunities for involvement.

NHS Local website goes live

The website for NHS Local, a digital service to engage staff, patients and the public in the West Midlands, has gone live. A video description can be found at http://maverick.box.net/shared/4vdak7tb1q(password: Maverick123).

NICE opens its public consultation for new evaluation pathway programme

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has opened its public consultation on the proposed process and methods guides for its new evaluation pathway programme for medical technologies. For more details and to comment, go to this webpage.

The College of Social Work: Consultation

The College of Social Work is running a consultation on its purpose and function. See the college website.

General Optical Council public consultation

The General Optical Council is running a public consultation on the accessibility of information about the fitness to practice of opticians. Both the consultation and a survey on registers can be accessed on their webpage. The consultation will run until late August.

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