Influencing Local Decisions

Sharing ideas and experiences helps make services more suited to what people in Devon need. Along withother types of patient involvement LINk Devon allows health and social care providers to understand whatpeople think about the services they deliver.

Acting on public feedback

LINk Devon provides usefulinformation aboutwhat the people who use services in Devon want and the issues that matter to them. This information can be used to help health and social care providers to plan and develop new and existing services in their area.

Improving services, strengthening relationships

LINk Devon aims to improve existing services. It seeks to update and amend established systems rather than changing them unnecessarily or finding fault without offering a solution.

Through LINk Devon, health and social care providers:

  • Seek and listen to the views of more people in their community
  • Provide better feedback about what people need and want
  • Engage the wholecommunity
  • Avoid duplication of effort
  • Allocate more money toservices that local people most value
  • Make more informeddecisions about the commissioning and running of services.

    • LINk Devon's influence

LINk Devon covers all the health and social care servicescontrolled by NHS Trusts in Devon and Devon County Council. The only services that are excluded are children's social services.

By joining LINk Devon, members of the public have more power than they would individually. LINks can:

  • Request information from health and social care commissioners about their services and expect a response
  • Issue reports or make recommendations about a service and expect a response from commissioners
  • Refer matters to the local council's health overview and scrutiny committee
  • Visit certain services and view the care provided.

 

LINk Devon creates relationships between the people who use services and health and social care providers. These relationships cannot exist if the public doubts, or is not aware of, the value of LINks.

Why being involved is important

LINk Devon makes it easier for people who commission and manage health and social care services in Devon to find out what the people they care for want.

Talking to people who use services

Health and social care professionals and support workers are encouraged to talk to the people they look after and torecommend theytake part in LINks.Byencouraging people to joina LINk, health and socialcare providers can communicate with the peoplewhose thoughts and opinions they need to know.

It's important that people's opinions are communicated because:

Care gets better when professionals find out and respond to people's needs.

  • LINks provide a single organisation for health and social care services to use toinvolve communities.
  • LINks help health and social care providers to understand people's views, so that they can consider public opinion when planning and developing services.
  • This helps to ensure that services are as good as they can be.
  • LINks help those working in health and social care, such as councils and care providers, to access a range of views.

Working with the care quality commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) checks on all health and social care services provided by the NHS, local authorities, voluntary organisations or private companies.

These include:

  • Acute and community hospitals
  • Ambulance services
  • Care homes and supported living services
  • Hospices Services for people with mental health problems or learning disabilities

 

They also check on primary care trusts and local councils that commission health and social care services. It is important for the CQC to hear from local communities and people who use services. A process is in place for local people to tell them about services that have used. Individuals, groups and local voluntary sector organisations can share their information through:

  • Local Involvement Networks (LINks)
  • Overview and Scrutiny Committees
  • Foundation Trust Boards of Governors
  • Learning Disability Partnership Boards and Local Children's Safeguarding Boards.

 

If you, or your organisation, would like to feed into the CQCs work contact LINk Devon