I'm up in Cambridge this afternoon with my colleagues
from ACEVO, working with the third sector in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to
develop a consortium to provide a joined up service on the elderly and people
with long term conditions (LTC). We will be working with the health service
here. Its exciting work and an example of our sector joining up - not just
locally but with specialist national charities in LTC.
We had our first meeting of the steering group on the
Winterbourne pledge on Monday. A good session but we are still forming and
working out our remit. We agreed we need to make our documents public so we
will be putting up the membership, terms of reference and minutes on the NHS
England website soon.
We're trying to co-commission a national framework
locally delivered that can help ensure better outcomes for people with learning
disabilities. And that means moving from an institutional approach to
community; from officials to users.
And as I said in my last blog, it is good to have Gavin
Harding on our group (he is the co-chair of the new Department of Health assurance
group). We discussed how best to ensure effective involvement of people with
learning disabilities. Given that we must deliver our report in October it's
crucial to have these conversations now.
I was talking to the local government group on learning
disabilities "Finding Common Purpose" this morning on all this.
Councils are key partners here, especially in commissioning. There is a new
opportunity here with the NHS England steering group. And the stories told in
the comments on my Blog on Monday put these matters in context; they’re about
people in their communities who need a better deal.
