Policy News
UKABIF are keen to make members aware of the latest policy developments and get involved in consultations which relate to acquired brain injury. We would also like to really represent you and the people you treat or care for. It is a hard slog to read all those papers and work out how to talk to the Government and Department of Health departments so that they “get it”. But at UKABIF we have someone to do just that - at the moment that person is Amanda Swain and she’s all yours.....
Please do get in touch if you have any feedback after reading this article. Look forward to hearing from you! In this item we focus on our involvement with the Neurological Alliance National Policy Group.
The Neurological Alliance ( www.neural.org.uk ) What is this?
An umbrella group with representatives from many organisations who work for (charity) or with (lobbyists) or with people who have neurological conditions.
Understandably there are some well represented conditions who have both their own charity and organisation delivering services eg: MS society and Parkinson’s UK, but there are also some very small groups represented (eg: Tourette’s Awareness). We (UKABIF) are the only other umbrella group now represented by the Neurological Alliance.
Why did we join another umbrella group?
Although we have our own All Party Parliamentary Group and contacts in Government (and we have many regional ABIF’s now working with their own regional contacts of influence) the Department of Health often limit their invitations to contribute to papers or investigations. By joining the Neurological Alliance we are doubling our contacts and time with the Government and Department of Health.
Until we put forward a representative on the National Policy group, acquired brain injury was not adequately covered in Neurological Alliance reports and this has changed since our representative has sat on the national group. Previous responses by the Neurological Alliance were thought by the UKABIF Executive Committee to be in need of more information on acquired brain injury, particularly traumatic brain injury which was not represented in the generic responses. The Neurological Alliance concentration was previously very much on degenerative neurological conditions.
The last response (to the CQC Special Review) however, did include acquired brain injury in the response; our value to the Neurological Alliance being that as the major representative group of acquired brain injury, UKABIF gives the Neurological Alliance more information on matters affecting acquired brain injury services and our input gives weight to the Neurological Alliance submission.
How are the ABIF’s involved?
We can keep up the double whammy to those in positions of power to make changes. The latest papers discussed and highlighted by UKABIF for you have been:
- The mid-point review of the NSF
- The CQC special review
- The chance to “show” at the LTC Conference
- The Social Care white paper
The periodic updates which are sent to ABIFs by UKABIF will contain requests for your responses to inititaives by the Neurological Alliance. Please let us know if this is the best way to contact you as responses to these emails have been rather sparse! As busy people, you may think, “not another email I’m too busy to read”. But I also suspect that from time to time you may also think, why am I hard pressed to deliver the best care to my clients? What needs to change at the top? The answer is often Policy!
Please think about getting back to our requests, a few bullet points are often enough as, as your national representatives, we are on the same page.
Consider the four (4) points above, make your response now on each that affect you and that you have some working knowledge of.
Look forward to hearing from you!
LATEST POLICY GROUP TARGET POINTS
Points of note for now from the early new government discussions:
- PCT’s will change to commissioners of Public Health services (what after all that PCT operations and procurement split? Yes.)
- GP’s will be the commissioners of most services holding the budget directly (a bit like GPFH and probably in the same sort of groups)
- SHA’s are to become NHS boards
- CQC will become the regulator of standards and quality
- MONITOR will become the financial regulatory body
- Of course all the changes are to make efficiency savings, not just be ‘within resources’
Amanda Swain
UKABIF Committee/Independent Consultant, ABI and Neuro Rehabilitation
