In just over four months Hertfordshire's Community Health Council will be abolished and there is confusion over what will replace it.

South West Herts CHC was set up in 1974, and has a wealth of experience acting on patients' behalf, dealing with their complaints and representing their interests.

The CHC had set up a Shadow Patients' Forum for Hertsmere, made up of members of the public, to take over part of its work after it is abolished on September 1.

Members of the forum had spent months learning how the health service operates and holding meetings, so that they would be ready to take over.

The forum was to be the place where patients could discuss health issues, independent of the NHS and without political influence.

But recently the Government announced that it did not want Patients' Forums to start operating until January at the earliest, making it impossible for there to be a smooth handover from CHCs.

The forum has now been put on ice, although it is hoped its members will apply to join a new forum, which will be set up by a national commission operated by the Department of Health, next year.

Barrie Taylor, chief officer at South West Herts CHC, said: "I think people are trying very hard to make this work, and a lot of people from the Shadow Patients' Forum are disappointed that they cannot take over from the CHC."

He added that Hertsmere PCT had done excellent work involving patients in the way the NHS was run.

Ian Brittain from Hertsmere PCT, said it was regrettable that the forum would not be able to take over from the CHC, but added that other new organisations would take over most of the CHC's work.

A new patient advocacy service has been established, which will fight for patients' rights when they feel they have been ill-treated, and politicians at the borough council will also have their say, under a new overview and scrutiny committee.

Councillor Seamus Quilty will chair the committee: "It is a very big responsibility," he said, adding that he would be happy to represent Hertsmere residents who had concerns or problems with the health service.

Hertsmere PCT also has a ground-breaking new system under which patients have a say in the way the NHS is run. The Hertsmere Healthy Network is made up of patients from 70 per cent of Hertsmere's doctors' surgeries, and gives them a chance to say what services they would like to be provided. The network has been so successful, the NHS is encouraging other PCTs to set up similar projects.

May 28, 2003 10:30