Local Involvement Network

A Local Involvement Network in Islington (LINk)

This page tells you how you can have more of a say about health and social care in Islington.

Islington is working with service users, carers, patients, voluntary and community groups and local residents to develop a Local Involvement Network (LINk) aimed at giving you more of a say on health and social care services.

What is a LINk?

Local Involvement Networks or LINks are replacing Patient Forums. Islington’s LINk will be made up of many more people than the Patient Forums. It will be a network of user-led and other voluntary and community organisations, as well as individuals and groups.

The LINk will be supported by a host organisation. The host will help set up and deliver the LINk and continue to support it in the future. The council is working in partnership with a range of community groups to make sure a fully independent LINk is in place by the autumn. See the "Transitional Arrangements" section below.

The Role of the LINk

The LINk will oversee hospitals, the PCT and the C&I NHS Foundation Trust and the council’s social services.

The LINk’s job is to make sure that everyone in the community has the chance to:

• say what they think about local health and social care services – what is working and what is not
• influence how services are planned and run
• see how their feedback helps services to improve

The LINk will:

• find out and represent the views of everyone in the borough
• make sure that they are listened to by the NHS and the council

So it can do this do this, the LINk will have special legal powers to help improve services. It will be able to:

• visit services to see what they do
• write reports and make recommendations
• ask for information from commissioners and providers which must be provided within a set time
• report findings to the council's Scrutiny Committee and get an answer

An easy-read document about LINks, produced by the Department of Health Website can be found below.

How to Join in

If you would like to:

• become a member of the LINk
• find out more about it
• give us your views

please contact Islington Voluntary Action Council (IVAC) at link@ivac.org.uk.

Transitional Arrangements

Government legislation means that a number of governance arrangements must be in place before the LINk can start work. To meet these requirements, Islington Cuncil has:

• held a large stakeholder event in November 2007 to raise awareness of the forthcoming LINk.
• asked questions in the November Citizen’s Panel survey about how people would like to get involved in health and social care issues.
• made necessary arrangements to procure and contract with a host organisation
• given briefings and presentations to community groups, forums and committees to raise awareness of the forthcoming LINks
• set up a steering group December 2007 which met regularly to provide advice on the setting up of the LINk in Islington
• held a conference in June 2008 to bring everyone together and launch the transitional LINk

Latest News!

• From our conference on 17 June a core group of interested individuals and people representing local organisations has been elected to develop the Islington LINk.
• Islington Voluntary Action Council (IVAC) has been awarded the contract to host the LINk and will be supporting its development from July 2008.
• The LINk's agreed procedures which set out how the transitional LINk will operate will be published on these web pages shortly.