Having been a practising GP in Essex for more than twenty years and part of the NHS for far longer, I’ve seen (and experienced) first-hand the way health and care services evolve and change.
Change is hard. We do the same things all of the time, sometimes regardless of whether or not that is good for us or whether or not it is giving us what we need. It’s also difficult to get the energy to make things better.
But change can be inspiring. It can happen slowly but occasionally it happens quite fast. And with every change there’s opportunity to learn, to innovate, to improve.
We’re seeing change every day in the NHS and have been since it was founded in 1948.
Just this week, locally in mid Essex, we’ve launched a new service to support people with Dementia and their families, carers or loved ones at a time when they may be vulnerable.
Next month we’re distributing ‘red bags’ to our nursing and residential homes that will help improve people’s journey through hospital and back to care when necessary by clearly identifying their needs.
It is vital that change happens with support and transparency with our public.
Here in mid and south Essex, we’ve just launched one of our biggest conversations about change – a conversation we want as many of you as possible to get involved in.
Our proposals for change set out a vision for future health and care in our patch. They explain how we could do things differently in the future to help support you, your children, your parents.
The proposals are bold and they set out how we would like to provide NHS health and care services in our communities and in our three hospitals over the coming years.
So it needs you, the past, current and future patient, carers and our staff – the people at the very heart of our NHS – to tell us what you think.
All of the information you need about our proposed change can be found here on this website.
Please share this with everyone you know – friends, colleagues, family, people you might find yourself in conversation with down the pub!
Change needs conversation. It needs opinion. It needs debate and it needs you. Please get involved