Report from the National Association of Links Members

A damning report was published by the National Association of LINKs Members (NALM) this month. Local Involvement NetworKs (LINKs) were set up to replace Patient Fora, which in turn replaced Community Health Councils. Each iteration has reduced the say that patients have over their local health services. The CHCs has some reasonable powers.

LINKs have been going for 7 months and I'm sure everyone across the country has heard of them and is itching to get involved...

The report from NALM has shown just how badly some councils have been at setting LINKs up. Members have not been paid expenses, some councils have top sliced high levels of funds and there appears to be a lack of training for members.

I am writing to Alan Johnson to express these concerns, I would encourage others to do the same.