71. Evidence submitted by North East Ambulance
Service PPI Forum (PPI 16)
The North East Ambulance Service Patient and
Public Involvement (PPI) forum understands that your committee
is gathering evidence before making recommendations to parliament
regarding the future of PPI in Health.
As a Forum covering a specialist NHS trust we
feel that combining us into a wider network will mean that issues
relating to ambulance services will be subsumed into other larger
issues. We feel that this will undo all of the good work that
we have done over the last three years. Not only that but we will
lose the excellent working relationship that has built up with
our Trust.
We would like you to consider recommending that
Forums based around such specialist services (ie ambulance, mental
health etc) retain their individual identity allowing them to
continue and build on previous work.
The evidence that we enclose is, we feel, strong
enough to support our case for retention. As you will see we have
carried out a number of projects, which we have presented to NEAS
NHS Trust, who have then considered the reports we have presented,
and they have always responded positively to them, and where necessary
they have acted upon our recommendations contained within the
reports. One prime example was of two surveys we carried out,
one looking at patients' experiences of Patient Transport Services
(PTS), and the other, the efficiency and effectiveness of the
PTS. These surveys were followed up by a report, which contained
a number of recommendations, which the trust responded to and
acted upon. We feel that this is obvious evidence that our current
system is working and shouldn"t be tinkered with and incorporated
into a wider network.
We have over the last three years built up a
relationship with our Trust that is based on mutual understanding,
trust and most importantly, respect, that we feel will be lost
if we were to be merged within LINks.
In our particular case because we cover a huge
geographical area (from Berwick in the north to the border between
Cleveland and north Yorkshire in the south, and from the East
coast to the border with Cumbria), it would so impractical to
be forced to become part of a number of different LINks that cover
that same geographical area.
We do hope that you will give serious consideration
to our request and evidence, and we look forward to your recommendations
to parliament, which hopefully will include one to retain the
status quo with specialist forums. If you require any further
information, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above
address, and I will be delighted to assist you in any way I can.
Michael A Dalton
Chair, PPIF North East Ambulance Service PPI Forum
2 January 2007
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