Activities: Consultative Documents

There is an increasing and largely unpredictable demand from Government, the Department and others seeking our views on various draft Bills, strategies, regional reviews of services, plans, policies, guidelines and so on.

We've considered and responded to most, particularly those that had a bearing on service provision and development. There was the Review of Acute Hospital Services; Investing for Health, a strategy for improving the health and well-being of the population; Building the Way Forward in Primary Care; Best Practice, Best Care which sets out proposals for improving the quality of services and the Review of Community Care to name but a few.

In her foreword to the latest consultative document Developing Better Services Modernising Hospitals and Reforming Structures, Ms de Brun, Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety comments "taken together, these initiatives form the main components of a unified and coherent approach to improving health and social services. I intend to bring them together in a new Regional Strategy, which will be published next year".

The Minister is indeed committed to public involvement and partnership and offers each and every one of us the opportunity to have our say in the future provision of services.

We would encourage everyone to watch out for public notices and press releases detailing the latest consultative document. Most consultative documents are now published on relevant websites on the internet, so view, download or request a copy and have your say.