Recent posts on the Public Involvement Blog

Engagement in 2012: a balancing act amidst the sound and fury    (January 20, 2012)

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... [Continue reading]

End the Rip-off Consumer Culture – Ed Miliband takes up consumer cudgels    (January 19, 2012)

Which? invited Ed Miliband to say his piece about consumers today to a group of us who had come in out of the early morning cold and wet – breakfast supplied – for the meeting at their Marylebone Road HQ. Ed started by reclaiming Which? for the Labour Party referring to the late Michael... [Continue reading]

Rx: Urgent -get out of the Dark Ages    (January 12, 2012)

Future Forum 2 – not a sequel but the next round of recommendations from the great and the good that began last summer – has reported, with further insights on integrated services (along with information, by far the most important theme), education and training for the healthcare workforce, information... [Continue reading]

Integration Holy Grail could be wishful thinking    (January 9, 2012)

Integrated services reflecting individual needs and marshalling skills and resources across the health and care sectors for the right people in the right place at the right time.  That’s what we should have now after 60+ years of a nationally funded health service.  But we don’t have it... [Continue reading]

2012 – The New Year Newsletter    (January 4, 2012)

The author of any New Year Newsletter has two main choices, it seems to me. Look back – revisiting triumphs, disasters, moments of laughter, a time of tears. Look forward – predicting the incidents that might attract those labels. The difficulty in one of our main areas of interest –... [Continue reading]

GP Federations: win-win for patients, public and frogs    (December 16, 2011)

The healthcare trade papers report that the RCGP and BMA (GPC) are pushing the GP Federation idea again, this time as a way to escape what they see as the problems with the commissioning reforms and the vulnerability of Clinical Commissioning Groups.  We welcome that as something that GPs can unite... [Continue reading]