From April 2008 Local Involvement Networks (LINks) replaced Patient and Public Involvement Forums in order to strengthen and extend the influence local people have on health and social care services. These networks of service users, voluntary organisations, community groups and members of the public are being established and supported by independent ‘host organisations’ commissioned by local social care authorities (on receipt of money from the Secretary of State for Health).

Cornwall County Council has let the host organisation contract for Cornwall LINk to Cornwall Rural Community Council (lead partner and accountable body), working in partnership with Age Concern Cornwall and Penwith Community Development Trust.

Do you feel passionately about local health and social care services? Have you got an experience (good or bad) you want to share so that those services can better meet the needs of the people that use them?

...by joining the LINk

If so, you can become part of a new way for local people to have a strong voice in how services are planned and run by joining and helping to develop Cornwall Local Involvement Network (LINk)

The LINk will be a network of local people, organisations and groups that want to make health and social care services better. Its membership might include:

• individuals
• youth councils
• neighbourhood renewal networks
• Foundation Trust governors
• faith groups
• minority ethnic groups
• service user support groups
• older people’s forum
• local business groups
• patient transport groups
• carer groups/network
• patients’ groups
• self-advocacy groups
• tenants groups

The LINk will be expected to represent everyone and will also work with health and social care professionals to make sure your voice is heard. It will not matter whether services are provided by the NHS, a local authority, private company, social enterprise or a charity, as long as they are paid for by the tax payer they will be covered by the LINk. This includes, for example, day centres and care homes, hospitals and GP surgeries, as well as health promotion.

The LINk will bring together groups working on behalf of local people and communities and should make it easier for their voices to be heard.

The job of a LINk is to:

• Give everyone the chance to say what they think about their local health and social care services – what’s working well and what’s not
• Give people the chance to check how services are planned and run
• Feedback what people have said about services so that things can change for the better

The LINk will have a range of powers so that they can say how local services should improve. It will be able to:

• Make reports and recommendations and get a reply within a set amount of time
• Ask for information and get a reply within a set amount of time
• Go into some types of services to see what they do
• Tell elected politicians on an Overview and Scrutiny Committee what they have found and get a response

For Department of Health information on LINks, including easy read versions...www.dh.gov.uk/patientpublicinvolvement, www.nhscentreforinvolvement.nhs.uk

For information and inquiries about Cornwall LINk...

Contact the host organisation:

Phone: 01872 243533

Email: cornwalllink @cornwallrcc.co.uk

Post: LINk in Cornwall, c/o Cornwall Rural Community Council, 2 Princes Street, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2ES

For more information see the press release annoucing the first LINk events Have Your Say On Health Care Issues With The LINk

and download the first Cornwall Link Newsletter Cornwall LINk Newsletter Spring 2008 (225 KB Download)

from the 22 May LINk event

Presentation Slides (112 KB Download)

Further Presentation slides (63 KB Download)

Cornwall LINk 22 May 2008 Meeting Notes (31 KB Download)

from the 13 June LINk event

Presentation Slides (88 KB Download)

Cornwall LINk 13 June 2008 Meeting Notes (39 KB Download)