Influencing the NHS in England

Sadly, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections still suffer from high levels of prejudice which can make people less likely to be open about their condition. As a result, people are less likely to make a fuss when they receive substandard care, and campaign for improvements. This has negative knock-on effects for sexual health services in general. We would encourage all our supporters to get involved in your local NHS structures so that we can raise our voice and make sure sexual health makes it onto the agenda. Patient Power is growing in importance and you can now have a greater influence than ever before.

LINKs

Local Involvement Networks (LINks) were set up to give citizens a stronger voice in how their health and social care services are delivered. Run by local individuals and groups and independently supported, the role of LINks is to find out what people want, monitor local services and to use their powers to hold them to account.

Of course, some local LINks will work better than others but they do provide a good opportunity for you to get involved in how your local services are working and make positive change. If your LINk works well it could give you a great deal of influence to improve local sexual health and HIV services. We would strongly encourage you to sign up and give yours a try.

You can find out more about LINks, what your local arrangements are, and how to sign up here. You can also visit your local council?s website directly and search for their LINks page.

PALS

If you have problems dealing with any aspect of your local NHS or receive a poor service it?s important to complain to ensure that the service improves for you and other people that use it after you. Again, people can often be too embarrassed to make a fuss if they encounter poor sexual health services so bad practice often goes unchallenged.

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) is a confidential service you can use to raise issues with your local services anonymously. They can also give you advice and information on how to make the most of the services that are on offer to you. Find out more at www.pals.nhs.uk/.

Service User Groups

Many of the NHS services you use will have a user group to scrutinise the service and make sure it is delivering what patients require and expect. To find out what form these take in your area contact your local Primary Care Trust (PCT) or call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47 48.

If you are living with HIV and accessing NHS services you could also get involved with local NHS HIV service planning groups. These groups involve the public and service users in planning future services and how they will be delivered. Again, you should contact your local PCT for more information.

Raising issues with your MP

Local MPs usually have close links with PCTs so you can write to your MP to ask them to put pressure on your local PCT to prioritise and spend more on sexual health. You can also raise specific service problems you have encountered with them.

You might like to take a look at the campaigners pack on our website for information on how best to influence your MP.

Foundation Trusts

NHS Trusts (responsible for running hospitals) can now apply for Foundation Trust status, the aim of which is to increase local control over how services operate.

Anyone who is a patient, anyone who lives in the membership area of a Foundation Trust or anyone who works at the hospital can become a member of that Trust. They will then receive regular communication about the Trust?s workings, be consulted on proposals for major service developments and will be able to vote and stand for elections to the Board of Governors.

If elected to the Board of Governors you will be expected to reflect the views of service users on how Foundation Trusts meet the needs of members and the wider community and advise on the longer term direction the Trust takes. It is a great opportunity to oversee the work and plans of your local hospital and give your input.

Contact details for your local Foundation Trust hospitals can be found on the NHS Direct website or by calling 0845 46 47 48.

NHS Boards

All NHS organisations have a Board which is responsible for overseeing and directing all of the organisation?s performance and operation. If you have specialist skills and a bit more time to spare you can apply to become a Non-Executive Director, a formal role with a fixed term of office. NHS Boards generally look for people with specific skills in areas such as finance or law to become Non-Execs, and there is an appointment process much like a regular job interview.

Non-Executive Directors will be expected to devote a few days a month and will be paid in return. When you become a Non-Exec you will take on some legal responsibilities but will usually have significant influence over local services. You should be able to find more information and contact details online through the website of your local NHS organisation.

Ad-hoc feedback

If you don?t have much time on your hands you can still get involved. Even giving constructive feedback after you?ve used a service helps: most services will have comment cards or suggestion boxes you can use. There may also be local one-off activities that you can get involved with. These could include surveys, focus groups and even mystery shopping exercises ? every little helps!

You can visit the website of your local Primary Care Trust and ask them how you can get involved on a more ad-hoc basis.