Patient & Public Involvement

FOREWORD and INTRODUCTION - Clare Hillitt, Network Director

The contribution that service users, carers and the public make in shaping services is well recognised within the NHS and within the North Trent Network of Cardiac Care.

Gathering views and opinions and factoring them into commissioning plans means that we are ensuring that cardiac and stroke services are patient centred.

In the past the responsibility for this work has traditionally lay with one or two key people. The challenge for the Network is to move beyond this and ensure that the views of service users, carers and the general public are captured and reflected in our plans. Together we will benefit from creating an environment where patient and public involvement is acknowledged as everyone’s daily business and patients and the public are actively influencing the development of NHS services.

In 2006, Section 242 of the consolidated NHS Act placed a duty on the statutory NHS organisations which included NHS trusts, primary care trusts and strategic health authorities to make arrangements to involve patients and the public in service planning and operation, and in the development of proposals for changes.
The North Trent Network of Cardiac Care is not a statutory organisation but a collaborative arrangement which relies on a partnership way of working to inform the review and commissioning of cardiac and stroke services across the region.

Although Networks do not have a duty under the NHS Act it is viewed as a local leader, engaging and collaborating with partners, driving change, sharing innovation and supporting its commissioning partners to realise the highest level of quality when commissioning cardiac and stroke services.

The Network is also publically accountable for its financial spend and has an obligation to the public to ensure its plans can:
“demonstrate better health and well-being for all, better care for all
and better value for all: adding life to years and years to life.”
World Class Commissioning 2007

In order to become world class, commissioners will need to develop the knowledge, skills, behaviour and characteristics of a world class organisation. As a Network we aim to rise to these challenges and support our partners to achieve excellence in this area.

The 2009 Cardiac Strategy outlined a pragmatic and practical approach to ensuring Patient and Public Involvement is embedded in Network business. The development and implementation of these plans has been fully supported at every stage by the board members thereby demonstrating a real commitment and reality to the term “a Patient Led NHS.”

The appointment of a dedicated Patient and Public Involvement Manager for the Network, further demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that our future aims and ambitions are realised in a timely fashion.

I thank you for your commitment to progressing Patient and Public Involvement in the Network and thereby ensuring that the patient voice is at the heart of all the Network plans and developments.