Health Department
Directorate of Planning & Performance Management

Health Planning and Quality
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
EDINBURGH
EH1 3DG

Dear Colleague

IMPLEMENTATION OF OUR NATIONAL HEALTH: PARTNERS IN CHANGE

1. Section 5 of Our National Health: a plan for action, a plan for change outlines how the NHS must improve the way in which patients and communities are involved in the planning and delivery of health care. It identifies work to equip the NHS to listen to and work in partnership with individuals and communities and also to build the capacity of individuals and groups to engage in an equal partnership with their local health and care services.

2. Partners in Change is one of these capacity-building initiatives. Partners in Change will happen in two stages. Between now and March 2002, Health Boards and their local planning partners should be planning, consulting on, developing and testing new Partners in Change projects. NHS Boards and their planning partners will then implement at least one project from 1 April 2002.

3. The attached paper sets out arrangements for supporting local services develop the first stage of Partners in Change. Health Boards, NHS Trusts and their partner organisations should make contact with the Project Team and make best use of the support and expertise they offer in developing their local proposals. Proposals for local projects must be submitted to the Scottish Executive Health Department by 31 December 2001.

Yours sincerely

13th July 2001

______________________________

Enquiries about this letter and
proposals submitted to:

Roy Sturrock
Directorate of Planning and
Performance Management
Health Planning and Quality
Room 3N.04
St Andrew's House
EDINBURGH
EH1 3DG

Tel: 0131-244 2399
Fax: 0131-244 2989
email: roy.sturrock@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
http://www.scotland.gov.uk

by 31 December 2001 at the latest.

________________________

Background

1. As the Health Plan notes, Allies in Change ⁽¹⁾ and Partners in Policymaking ⁽²⁾ have effectively been piloting the Partners in Change approach for a number of years now. The success of these and related initiatives has convinced Ministers that people who live and cope with chronic disease or long-term disability acquire a great deal of expertise and insight about their condition. Allies in Change has shown that when healthcare professionals and people who use services come together to plan and develop services, strong partnerships are created which, if linked firmly into the service commissioning process, lead to positive change in culture and practice. These changes can only come about because of the depth of understanding patients and users of services can bring to the process. Our National Health requires local services to build on the approach successfully demonstrated by these pilot programmes and by April 2002 have set up at least one Partners in Change programme which will put the experience of patients and service users at the heart of service change.

Support Arrangements

2. The Scottish Executive has established a project team, of staff seconded from the NHS and other settings, to support local services develop the first stage of Partners in Change. The Partners in Change team will work in partnership with local and national organisations, drawing ideas and best practice from relevant work in many different places. The team will be commissioning some work from voluntary and other organisations and will provide support to a range of local NHS services and patient groups.

3. A Partners in Change Steering Group will be established to oversee the work of the Project Team, advise on the delivery of the development stage and assist with the early implementation of the Partners in Change projects. A Project Team newsletter will provide regular updates and an initial copy is enclosed with this letter.

4. Anne Connor and her Partners in Change Project Team can be contacted at:

Partners in Change,
1a Washington Court,
Washington Lane,
Edinburgh EH11 2HA;
telephone 0131-538 7717;
email: pix@shstrust.org.uk

 

______________________________

⁽¹⁾ Allies in Change is an educational programme designed to help people who use mental health
services and the people who provide them to work together more effectively at all levels, from joint planning with individuals to joint planning at health board level. Click to return to Background paragraph 1.

⁽²⁾ Partners in Policymaking is a leadership development programme for adults with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. Click to return to Background paragraph 1.

Features of a Partners in Change project

5. Partners in Change should not be limited to any one sector or any one setting. We hope there will be Partners in Change projects in:

• primary care
• acute hospital settings
• community care services
• screening services
• preventative health care
• services for children and young people
• services and support for older people
• health care and well being for people living in a particular area.

A priority will be projects involving people in long-term contact with health services.

6. In some Health Board areas people might decide to opt for several smaller projects, across different sorts of services or different localities. Some Health Boards may also join with others to undertake a regional or national project on a specific issue.

7. We are keen that the spread of projects across Scotland will cover the range of health services and the population. The Scottish Executive and the Partners in Change team will discuss with local health services how the projects being considered for an area can contribute to shared learning at a national level.

Criteria for projects

8. Each project must reflect the following characteristics.

• There is joint work between people who use services, those who care for people who use services and people who provide services.
  
  
• Local Service Commissioners have worked through the implications and effects on their processes of empowered user involvement.
  
  
• People who use services will be part of 'defining the problem' from the start; they will not be coming in at a later stage to play a limited role that has already been set for them.
  
  
• They will involve front-line staff as well as managers.
  
  
• They will have an open and inclusive style; reaching and involving people who tend to be excluded, keeping people informed, drawing in the work and ideas that are already there.
  
  
• They will include a formal element of shared learning - from each other, and from practice in other fields and other areas.
  
  
• They will build in reflection and evaluation - what are we learning? Are we making a difference? How could we improve?
  
  
• They will be 'new' in the sense that they are additional to any projects or processes that are already happening or are in the pipeline.
  
  
• There must be evidence that the local community and partner agencies have contributed to the development of the project and to agreeing the selection of the proposed projects.
  
  
• Participating users and carers are entitled to know what impact their input has had on the profile or style of service provision; their energy and commitment will only be sustained by a feeling that they are being involved as contributing partners.

Allies in Change and Partners in Policymaking

9. The Scottish Executive has agreed to fund a further Allies in Change national programme during the year 2001/02. Partners in Policymaking is currently part-funded from the National Lottery Community Fund until July 2003 and raises the balance of its funds through contributions from health boards and local authorities. Full information about the lessons local systems can learn from these projects can be obtained from Clare Bentley, Scottish Human Services Trust, 1a Washington Court, Edinburgh EH11 2HA 0131 538 7717 or from the website www.shstrust.org.uk.

10. The Executive expect Boards and their local partners to apply the best practice lessons of these projects locally to improve the way in which their local mental health and disability services are delivered. However, we would expect to see local proposals for Partners in Change programmes being in addition to these schemes.

Health Planning and Quality Division
June 2001

Click here to open the Partners in Change newsletter May 2001 (PDF file, 85 KB)