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"The most ferocious member of the public administration committee – if rottweilers had pets, they'd keep Mr Prentice on a piece of string, and hungry"

Simon Hoggart, Guardian, March 2010

MP Calls for Voice of Patients to be Heard

Tags: health care | NHS | Press Release | social care

Tuesday, 19 August 2008 00:00

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice is calling for the Lancashire Local Involvement Network (LINk), the new body representing the public in health and social care, to be functioning without delay. The MP said: “The previous bodies with this role, the Patient and Public Involvement Forums (PPIs), came to an end in March this year, but the process of getting the Lancashire LINk up and running is by no means complete. LINks have a wider remit than the PPIs had, with Social Care as well as Health. But at a time when so much is going on in the Health Service—and with so much disquiet over the Burnley / Blackburn changes - the independent voice of the public needs to be heard. “The East Lancs PPI had a considerable programme of work that it was undertaking but this came to a halt in March and it might still be months before it is picked up again, if at all. “In the meantime the Lancashire Adult Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be looking at health care in East Lancashire at its meeting on 23 September.” Note to editors LINks were created by the Local Government and Involvement in Health Act of 2007. The Department of Health is making available £84 million over three years to support their development. While there is a duty on local authorities to ensure that LINks are set up, they will be independent of the local authority and the NHS. LINKs are designed to: provide a single system for involvement Ensure that information is provided to both health and social care commissioners in a locality Provide support to regulators and Overview and Scrutiny Committees.