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About Our health, our care, our say
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Last modified date:5 March 2007
In 2005 the Department of Health conducted two consultations, Independence, Wellbeing and Choice and a listening exercise, Your health, your care, your say. Independence, Wellbeing and Choice, the adult social care Green Paper, asked for views on how social care services could be improved. The listening exercise, Your health, your care, your say, allowed the public to speak directly to ministers, health professionals, and each other on how improvements could be made to their local services.
What people wanted
Nearly 143,000 people contributed their views on what they expected from their local social care and NHS services. People wanted their local services to:
- understand how they live and support them to lead healthier lives
- help them to live independently if they have ongoing health or social care needs
- be easy to get to and convenient to use
- be nearer to where they live, or easily available in the areas they work.
The White Paper
In July 2005 Liam Byrne announced these two consultations would form the basis of a single White Paper. The Paper would recognise how NHS and social care services work together and identify how the delivery of these services could adapt to provide individuals with the health and social care services they need closer to their homes.
The proposals in the White Paper, Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services, aim to:
- change the way these services are provided in communities and make them as flexible as possible
- provide a more personal service that is tailored to the specific health or social care needs of individuals
- give patients and service users more control over the treatment they receive
- work with health and social care professionals and services to get the most appropriate treatment or care for their needs.
Changing the services
To achieve these aims family doctors, primary care trusts and local authorities who have direct contact with patients and service users will have more say in how best to plan and buy services for local communities. Public, private, voluntary and charitable organisations will need to work in partnership to put the interests of the public first, ensure health and social care staff receive the right training and make good health and social care services an essential part of local communities.
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