Dr Rajan Madhok is a public health doctor who worked in senior medical management positions in the NHS before his retirement and is now a non-Executive Board member of Llais, the citizens’ voice body for health and social care in Wales.
Here he explains why it is important for people in Wales to share their thoughts, worries, and ideas to help create a more effective health and social care system.
Llais is an independent organisation, representing the voices of the people of Wales in shaping the future of health and social care services.
It launched last year, replacing the community health councils. It also now represents public feedback about social care, as well as health services. For the first time in Wales, there is one body looking at all care – the whole health and care journey, so to speak.
However, this opportunity to put people at the heart of service planning and delivery and to ensure joined-up care is not without its challenges.
These are very difficult times with increasing demands and limited resources; both the NHS and social care services are stretched, causing distress to patients, service users and carers.
There is a need for everyone to do more, and faster, to improve care for everyone.
Llais already helps individuals through our Complaints Advocacy services, by engaging people in their local community and representing their voice at a local, regional and national level with Health Bodies, Local Authorities and the Welsh Government.
But we want to do more!
Collective voice of the people
That is why we are involving the people from all communities of Wales to make sure we raise the voices of under-represented groups – those whose voices are not often heard.
This collective voice of the people is now sorely needed; we need people living in Wales to bring their thoughts, worries, and ideas to us so that together we can work with others and contribute to a more fit-for-purpose health and social care system.
Anyone who uses health and care services, with their lived experiences, are often best placed to see where things can and should improve, and we want to create ways to put this highly valuable and much-needed expertise to best use.
We realise that people are either frustrated at the lack of improvements or disinterested as they cannot see how things will change.
We all have a part to play in changing this mindset. We need volunteers to help make changes; volunteers who can and will talk with local communities and service user groups to encourage them to step forward, working with providers to make long-term improvements.
Action is needed
We know that action is needed at local, regional, and national levels and are developing plans to work in this way for maximum impact.
But these plans will only be effective if they truly reflect the needs of the people and if the people of Wales are engaged and empowered in the process.
We will work with the policymakers and other organisations to collectively develop a new vision for services.
We are already working to promote good practice supporting and championing community-based solutions and making use of technology to ensure accessible services.
Play your part
We will build on these and create an organisation which will constantly change and improve, aiming to make sure services are people-centred, and for all this we need help.
We need people to talk to us – to share their experiences of health and social care – or the experiences of those they care for – so that we can use these opinions and insights to shape the future of services.
We also need volunteers to help gather these opinions – to speak to people about Llais in person, on the phone or online and to let people know that Llais exists and can make a difference.
Llais is only as strong as the people it represents, so do join us and help play your part in the future of health and social care.
Together, we can!
Find out more
To learn about volunteering opportunities and sharing your experiences, go to www.llaiswales.org
