Patient Forums (Hansard, 18 November 2003)

§ Mr. Colman
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the proposed statutory patient and public involvement forums in England are served by local network providers who are insolvent. [137199]

§ Ms Rosie Winterton
No local network provider contracted to support patients' forums is insolvent.
One organisation involved in a joint contract, The College of Health, has recently become insolvent. However, the Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations, which was a joint contractor with the College of Health to provide staff support, is now contracted solely to provide the support to the patients' forums previously covered under the joint contract.

§ Bob Russell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health who will determine which applicants will be selected to serve on each patient and public involvement forum. [137484]

§ Ms Rosie Winterton
The Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health is responsible for appointing members of patients' forums. Regional managers or delegated members of staff lead the selection decision for each potential patients' forum member. The decision is made against nationally uniform selection criteria, supported by an appeals procedure.

§ Bob Russell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many applications have been received for each patient and public involvement forum. [137485]

§ Ms Rosie Winterton
Information for individual patients' forums is not available. The national figure for applications for membership of patients' forums is 3,793 at 11 November 2003, which represents over 90 per cent. of the target for the first tranche of recruitment.

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to ensure that(a) organisations given contracts to organise patients' forums and (b) the members of patients' forums (i) have experience in patient advocacy, (ii) have knowledge of the working practices of the NHS and (iii) live in the local community. [135632]

§ Ms Rosie Winterton
People from all walks of life are encouraged to join patients' forums, bringing with them a diversity of experience and views. The majority of members of a forum must be people for whom services are being or have been provided by the relevant national health service trust or relevant primary care trust (PCT) and, in the case of PCTs' patients' forums, are living in the area where the service is provided. A general understanding of the NHS by members is desirable. More important is to find individuals who have a real interest in improving services and a commitment to represent the views of the community served by the trust or PCT.
870W
Local network providers were identified using a competitive tendering programme and were awarded contracts on the basis of their ability to provide effective support at a community level, not where they were located.
It is not the role of patients' forums or local network providers to provide patient advocacy. Under the new system this is given by patient advice and liaison services and independent complaints advocacy services.

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patient forums are in place; and how many members have been appointed. [135633]

§ Ms Rosie Winterton
The programme of recruitment to the patients' forums is still under way. We understand the national and local advertising campaigns have elicited a large number of applications, which are currently being processed by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH). The CPPIH is on track for achieving full forum coverage by 1 December.