Request from NHS England for a Patient or Public Representative on the new Urgent and Emergency Care Network

Nationally there has been a review of urgent and emergency care services which led to the establishment of local System Resilience Groups (SRG). The aim of Urgent and Emergency care Networks is to bring these together to work strategically across a larger patch and to address issues that go beyond any one SRG.
More information about Urgent and Emergency Care Networks can be found here.
RequestThese networks are now being set up nationally. In Wessex we have had one initial meeting with some of the members to discuss the most effective way of achieving our objectives. A key part of this will be patient or public engagement and all of the members felt this was very important. The meetings for the first twelve months will be two monthly with the next two meetings being held on 21 January 2016 9am-12pm and 31 March 9am-12pm. At the moment these meetings are scheduled for three hours but this is likely to rapidly change to two hourly. The patient or public member would be there in their own right representing as much as they are able general views. The group will operate strategically so will be less about dealing with specific operational issues which are picked up by the SRG i.e. issues with a particular hospital and more about Wessex wide issues i.e. commissioning 111 and out of hours’ services.
The person who is a member will want to be interested in this style of working, support for you will be provided through the urgent care lead at NHS England Wessex, Lucy Sutton, and regular discussions can take place to make sure you continue to feel your contribution is as worthwhile as possible.
Ideally we would like one individual to attend to enable consistency but recognise the time commitment so can discuss with individuals deputising arrangements as necessary.
Expenses will be covered. For all discussions or any queries please contact Lucy Sutton on 07825 448230 or lucy.sutton@nhs.net.
Please do come and join us, you will find it interesting and informative and your views will inform the future strategic direction of services.