In many ways, the passing of the Health and Care Act in 2022 feels both a moment and a life time ago. In that time we have seen Integrated Care Systems formally established, Integrated Care Boards and Integrated Care Partnerships formalised, and systems operating – and beginning to think – in much larger footprints, while…
Category: Insights
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan: what does it mean for patients?
On the 30th June NHS England published the highly anticipated NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. It’s a doozy of a document, coming in at over 150 pages. Here at Stand we’re wondering: what do these plans mean for public involvement? In the plan, NHS England details its ambition to train, retain and reform the NHS…
Pride at work
June is Pride month. All around the country people will be out celebrating diversity at community events large and small. There will be glitter. There will be face paint. There will be brightly coloured feather boas (and that’s just in my house!). There will be flags. Progress pride flags. Trans pride flags. Bi pride flags.…
New Hospital Programme – new sites announced
Last week, the government announced the next wave of hospitals to be included in England’s New Hospitals Programme (NHP), the largest capital infrastructure project for NHS estates in recent times and the biggest access to significant capital that Trusts have been able to get in a long time. But it isn’t all roses: many of the…
Choosing the right patient and public engagement consultants
You think you need help to get your service change project delivered, but how do you choose the right consultancy to help you? Budgets are tight and timelines short for NHS service change project managers and programme directors. Getting the right strategic advice and expert delivery you get provided by the right specialist patient and…
What does the NHS England pre-election guidance mean for consultation and involvement?
The 2023 pre-election period is a week old. Every year when it kicks in, the phones at Stand Towers ring and our inboxes start to ping with quite reasonable questions about what it means and how it should be applied locally. This is the first time Integrated Care Boards have dealt with scheduled elections, so…
The benefits of flexible working
A few days ago, the UK government published its response to a public consultation it held in late 2021 on changes to flexible working laws. Now, the outputs of so many UK government consultations end their days languishing in a Whitehall black hole with no prospect of ever informing public discussion, that “Government publishes response…
The twilight zone for health scrutiny in England?
The news that local authorities in England will retain their power to refer disputed health service reconfiguration proposals to the Secretary of State “until the new reconfiguration provisions take effect” will make many NHS programme managers a bit twitchy. Especially when coupled with the news that “changes to the reconfiguration process introduced through the Health…
A proud moment for Stand
When I interviewed Caroline and Paul about our plans for Stand at the beginning of the year, we didn’t expect to be an award winning team six months into it. Paul and Caroline are very modest about the work that they do, but given what they’ve achieved in two years, I decided to enter Stand…
Top tips in planning your public consultation timeline
Moving from options development into a public consultation period is one of the most challenging aspects for any strategic change programme. Stand’s director, Caroline Latta, shares four key considerations to have in mind when planning your consultation timeline. Picture the scene. You’ve worked hard with clinical teams, commissioners, stakeholders, patients and partners, and there’s strong…
