Paula

The passport described in the above article can be purchased from http://www.freespirit-medical-passports.co.uk as mentioned below. I had a free printable copy, but found that it kept breaking apart in my bag, and didn’t contain enough room to write down anything other than simply my medication, so was very pleased to come across the Dochealth books.

I would make my decision based on how much you will need to use it and how problematic your healthcare requirements are. For most people I’m sure a free printout will suffice, but I needed something a little more substantial.

Hope this helps,

Hannah Jones

Verite has advised that she bought her medical passport from Freespirit Enterprises Ltd.  It cost £11.99 and is 65 pages.
You might also be interested to read this presentation from Imperial (see original post for PowerPoint).  Following feedback from patients & stakeholders, they have also developed a passport and are currently piloting it .
Thank you,

Paula (for Verite)

Could you advise where we can obtain a passport?

Thanks

Anna

HealthWatch – due to
replace local involvement networks in October 2012 – is part of a package of
improvements the government has promised will bring “real local democratic
accountability and legitimacy” to the NHS “for the first time in 40 years”.

But with no start-up
funding for local HealthWatch pathfinders, no ringfenced money and a
potentially minimal uplift to the LINks’ budget, questions are being asked
about how it can be the “consumer champion” envisaged by the government.

There are also concerns an
unexpected government amendment to the Health Bill could be used to “silence”
patient groups.

Nuffield Trust senior
fellow in health policy Ruth Thorlby told HSJ it was a “worry” as to whether
HealthWatch would be adequately funded to cope with its “potentially huge”
brief. 

Its remit includes
scrutinising health and wellbeing boards, councils and clinical commissioning
groups as well as influencing the development of services and monitoring the
quality of local health and social care providers.

The DH was forced to
apologise and withdraw a consultation document on future funding allocations
for local HealthWatch branches last Friday after it was published without the
knowledge of the HealthWatch programme board or advisory group.

The document appeared to
suggest local authorities could run HealthWatch on as little as £20,000 a year.
LINks cost an average of £100,000.

In a letter to health minister
Lord Howe last week, National Association of Local Involvement Networks Members
chair Malcolm Alexander said it was “insulting” to volunteers to expect them to
run successful pathfinders with no additional money.

The DH clarified to HSJ
this week that it is recommending local authorities are allocated a minimum of
£20,000 on top of existing LINk funds.

But there are fears this
guidance will have little impact because of the lack of a ringfence.

Research by NALM has found
only six out of 150 LINks avoided cuts to their budget this year. Bob Hudson,
an honorary professor at Durham
University’s school of
applied social sciences, said the “temptation” for councils to cut budgets
further would only increase without a ringfence.

He said: “The way
HealthWatch locally and nationally is being configured simply isn’t up to the
job… It doesn’t seem to me the government is taking it very seriously.”

King’s College London
senior research fellow in patient and public involvement Sally Brearley, who
sits on the HealthWatch advisory group and is a member of the Future Forum,
told HSJ the local HealthWatch pathfinders would struggle to establish
themselves out of existing resources without the work of LINks being affected.

Ms Brearley, a LINk member
in Sutton, south London,
also raised concerns about an amendment to the Health Bill requiring local
HealthWatch membership to be representative of local communities.

She feared the new
requirement – not proposed by the NHS Future Forum – could be used to “silence”
HealthWatch groups unable to fulfil this obligation.

She said: “She said: “In
the end local HealthWatch should be as representative as possible of its patch
as possible, but we don’t want the bar to be too high. It could silence
HealthWatch.”

HealthWatch will be the third
attempt at creating an effective method of patient and public involvement since
the abolition of community health councils in 2003. They will be set up as
corporate bodies in an attempt to make them more independent than LINks, which
sit within a host organisation.

Ms Thorlby said the success
of the government’s ambitions for democratic legitimacy would depend on how
much the centre let go and allowed communities to shape services.

Local HealthWatch
organisations will also be allowed to employ their own dedicated staff and will
report to HealthWatch England,
a new committee of the Care
Quality Commission.

National Voices chief
executive Jeremy Taylor called on the government to signal a commitment to
patient involvement by setting up HealthWatch England in shadow form as soon as
possible.

Wielding the axe: the evolution of patient
and public involvement organisations

Organisation

Lifespan

Minister

Community health councils

1974-2003

Axed by Alan Milburn

Patient and public involvement forums

2003-2008

Axed by Patricia Hewitt

Local involvement networks

2008-2012

Axed by Andrew Lansley