: Involving patients

Involving patients

Join our proposed foundation trust

Patient and public involvement at the hospitals

Join the local involvement networks (LINks)

City of London LINk
Tower Hamlets LINk

Be part of your world-renowned local hospitals – join our foundation trust

Barts and The London is signing up patients, carers and local residents as members of our proposed new NHS foundation trust – a new kind of organisation with stronger links to local communities and greater independence to develop services in line with the needs of local people and patients.

As a foundation trust, we will be accountable via elected representatives to our members, who will be local residents, patients or their carers and hospital staff. Anyone who lives in the City, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney or south Islington can become a member, as can people who have been patients or carers at any of our hospitals – Barts, The Royal London and The London Chest – in the past three years.

As a member of the new foundation trust, you would be supporting your local hospitals and could contribute to their future development. Members will be able to vote in elections or stand as a governor for the members’ council, a new representative body. You will also have access to information about the foundation trust, health and healthcare issues.

For more information or to join our foundation trust, please call 0870 707 1598, email ft@bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk or visit www.bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk/ft.

Involving our patients

As part of our patient and public involvement strategy, we continue to work closely with patients and carers throughout our hospitals, and actively seek their involvement when we need to improve a service or make changes that will affect them.

If you’d like to get more involved with helping us improve services at the hospital, please contact the Patient and Public Involvement Project Manager, based at The Royal London Hospital on tel 020 7377 7000 ext 2590

Download Patient and public involvement feedback strategy.

A new voice for patients - Local Involvement networks (LINks)

From April 2008, patient and public involvement forums started to be replaced nationally by local involvement networks (LINks), which aim to achieve better care by giving people and communities a stronger local voice. LINks will be boroughbased and will be supported to find out what citizens want from local health and social care services. They will also investigate specific issues of concern to the community and suggest ideas to help improve the care people receive.

Residents in the City of London can join the City of London LINK

Do you want to make health or social services better in the City? If so, there’s a new way to get involved to improve the services we all use.

It is backed by national law, and gives you the chance to highlight what’s being done well and what needs improvement in the City of London.

City of London LINk (Local Involvement Network) is a way for people who use services in the City to speak to people who run them. The LINk is an independent network, directed solely by its members. Any individual or group interested in health or social services can join. Being a part of the LINk is flexible so you don’t need to commit to attending any number of meetings. You can simply receive updates by post or email and be as involved as you want to.

You can make a difference to the community by sharing your ideas on any aspect of health or social care. By getting involved now, you could produce a real change in how services are provided.

The last few years really show what can be achieved when London’s patients and community groups come together. As a direct result of local people’s work there is, for example, now an additional dentist and better information in Westminster. As patients we all benefit from improvements like this.

Please contact Jennifer Purcell (jpurcell@vawcvs.org, 020 7535 0496, City of London LINk, 37 Chapel St, London, NW1 5DP) if you would like to join the LINk or receive more information.

Residents in Tower Hamlets can join the Tower Hamlets LINk (called THINk)

THINk is the Local Involvement Network (LINk) for Tower Hamlets. It is a network of individuals, groups and organisation that gives local people ways of getting involved and influencing service, design, review and development of health and social care services.

If you would like to join THINk, this might involve:

A few minutes completing a feedback form or survey

Getting involved in a group looking at a specific issue

Attending occasional meetings or events that interest you

Becoming a trained THINk representative who goes to view services

Getting involved in the THINk Board (Advisory Group)

Receiving regular bulletins and information.

For further information, visit the THINk website at www.thinknetwork.org.uk

Young People’s Forum

Barts and The London’s young people’s forum will continue, giving past and present patients aged 12 to 17 a chance to let us know what they think of our services to help us make improvements. In 2006/07, the group focused particularly on the development of the new website for children and young people.

Get involved by volunteering at our hospitals

If you are a good listener, like helping people and have time to spare, you might like to consider voluntary work at one of our hospitals. More than 500 volunteers are already working closely with our staff to provide some of the more personal and caring services for patients, visitors and our 8,000 strong workforce. Without their help services like the ward trolley service would cease to exist.

To find out more about volunteering at The Royal London Hospital call tel 020 7377 7792, for Barts Hospital or The London Chest Hospital call tel 020 7601 8339. More information about becoming a volunteer >>