18 May 2010
Staff at the Trust are encouraging local people to get their voices heard about healthcare by joining their Local Involvement Network (LINk).
LINk groups give people the opportunity to influence the way health and social care services are delivered, which includes how your local hospitals and social services are run.
The role of a LINk is to find out what people want, monitor local services and to use their powers to hold those organisations to account.
There are LINks in Sutton, Merton and Surrey, so patients, relatives and visitors of Epsom, Sutton and St Helier hospitals have a number of ways to get involved.
Joanne Chapman is the Trust's Patient Experience Manager and is responsible for overlooking patient feedback and sharing that information with other staff to help implement improvements. She said: "It's crucial that we get regular feedback from the people we serve. We're here to help local people in their time of need and so we need to make sure we're doing the best job that we possibly can.
"Representatives from the LINks visit the hospitals for regular inspections and sit on a number of important committees, ranging from those aimed at further improving the food patients receive to those which decide where and how the Trust invests its money. If you want to get involved in the way that your local hospital operates, I would really recommend getting in touch with a LINk.
"The local LINks groups are pretty flexible, so you can commit as much or as little time as is suitable for you."
Some reasons to take part include:
-
To influence those who make decisions about new or existing health and social care services;
-
To help your community speak with a stronger voice;
-
To help services provide better care.
