Patient expertise may be lost to NHS

Patients with complaints about healthcare in England could be left with no clear representation for up to six months following the abolition of community health councils in September.

The government says that the 184 English CHCs, which have acted as the patient’s voice for 28 years, will disappear on 1 September. But the 571 new patient forums designed to replace them may not be fully up and running in every area until next April.

Murray Benham, spokesperson for the Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales – also being abolished – said the gap meant that some areas would be without adequate help with complaints and that services, such as accident and emergency departments, would go unmonitored through much of the winter.

‘Effectively, in communities all over the country, CHCs will be closing their doors and that will be it,’ said Mr Benham. ‘If you have a complaint, how will you know who to turn to?’

He feared that the skills and experience of the 700 CHC staff being made redundant, as well as the 5,000 volunteers who will also lose their posts, could be lost to the NHS.

ACHCEW is also concerned that the government has reneged on its commitment to ensure ‘one-stop shops’ for complaints in every area and that the £34m funding for patient forums will be insufficient. But the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, set up to replace the CHC network, insists the new arrangements will improve accountability and representation. Chaired by Sharon Grant, widow of the late Labour MP Bernie Grant, the commission aims to involve previously marginalised groups.

A spokesperson said the commission hoped most patient forums would be running by December but commissioners were talking to the Department of Health about interim help to bridge the gap. They were confident funding would be adequate.

‘It is going to be a much more comprehensive system putting patients at the heart of what is going on,’ he said. ‘It will be bigger, better and more robust than CHCs were able to be.’

However, the commission is ‘very concerned’ at health secretary Alan Milburn’s announcement that foundation trusts will not have patient forums.

Welsh community health councils and Scottish local health councils remain in place.

Wendy Moore

accent on accountability

The Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health will have national, regional and local layers, replacing CHCs and ACHCEW.
At local level, patient and public forums will be set up in all primary care trusts and NHS trusts with inspection and representation powers.
Formal partnerships with local networks, possibly involving voluntary sector bodies, will support forums.
The system will be independent of the in-house trust-based Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS).
Patient forums will commission or provide independent complaints advocacy services to assist people to make complaints.