Letter

New patient forums: experience not needed?

I read with interest the article by Laura McMurtrie of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (Power to the people, issue 53). We have supported many of our member organisations through the tendering process to become a Local Network Provider (LNP) for patients’ forums, and we believe it is crucial that the wider health community is aware of concerns about the effectiveness of the new system.

Councils for Voluntary Service (CVS) provide support to local voluntary and community organisations across England. Most are already actively involved in health and social care issues, and considered the provision of patients’ forums as a natural extension of this work; they felt well placed to offer the “experience, knowledge and existing contacts in their local communities” highlighted by Laura McMurtrie.

Flaws in the tendering process ranged from organisations being invited to tender for trusts that no longer exist, to ‘packaging’ of forums into geographical groups that bore no resemblance to local patient pathways. The biggest concern was that CPPIH’s priority appeared to be minimising cost, rather than ensuring the quality of supported offered by tendering or ganisations.

CVS are nonetheless well represented on the list of appointed LNPs, but it is not clear whether all of the other organisations winning tenders can claim experience in health or knowledge of the relevant local community. Add to this CPPIH’s decision to recruit forum members through a national office rather than through the LNPs, and it is difficult to see how the new forums will be more representative and inclusive than the CHCs they replace.