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Get Involved in Gloucestershire

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Why do we want to involve patients and the public?

Patients and the public have views to offer about the way services are provided and how they could be changed. The NHS in Gloucestershire is keen to listen and learn from patients' experiences and believe that this is incredibly important in helping to identify how health services can be developed and improved in the future.

Patients and the public should be involved not just when major changes are planned but in on-going planning and not just in considering options but also in developing these plans.

The NHS is there to treat and care for people. If that care and treatment does not meet the needs of local people, or if patients feel that they have no say in what care and treatment is available, then the NHS is not meeting its responsibilities.

Involvement in Gloucestershire

There are many ways in which you or your family can ‘get involved’ to help develop local health services in Gloucestershire.

These include:

• joining a patient, user or carer group at your local hospital or GP practice or wherever you receive a service.
  
  
• joining one of the Patient and Public Involvement Forums
  
  
• becoming a volunteer in a local hospital or clinic or joining a League of Friends
  
  
• finding out more about the Expert Patient Programme (EPP) which aims to help people living with chronic illness
  
  
• planning services together with healthcare staff in your local community
  

Service Groups

The NHS in Gloucestershire would also like to involve members of the public, patients and partners who have a specific interest in a particular service area and would like to join their local Primary Care Trust in discussing and planning these areas of health need, e.g. Services for Older People, Services for people with Cancer, Services for people with Mental Health problems.

How to find out more

You can find out more about these and other involvement opportunities by contacting Community Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 08000 151548. Alternatively, you can visit the PALS website .