1. Letter from the Engaging Communities Staffordshire Strategic Group<br /> <br />Posted on Wednesday 2nd March 2011 <br />The Engaging Communities project came about because as a group of leaders of health and social care services we wanted to be absolutely sure that people were being involved in the way services are set up and provided. <br />We are committed to adding value to what is currently in place such as GP practice groups, membership schemes, support groups and Local Involvement Networks. To make sure trends and themes can be spotted across organisations so that prompt responses can be put in place as soon as they become apparent. <br />The Engaging Communities Staffordshire project hopes to find an effective way for people to be involved in the services that provide for their health and social care needs. We hope it will be able to do things in a way that means that less money is spent than at the moment but means more people are heard. We hope it will reduce the likelihood of people being asked the same or similar questions by different organisations and we hope it will enable better decisions to be made by health and social care organisations based on the experiences and views of the people of Staffordshire. Lastly we hope to share its success with others outside of Staffordshire. <br />The Government intends to replace Local Involvement Networks (LINks) with Local Healthwatch in 2012. It is expected that Local Healthwatch will do all that LINks does now with some additional responsibilities that include helping people to make choices about what services they might use as well as helping people who wish to make a complaint. The Engaging Communities Staffordshire project will be able to help and co-ordinate how and when organisations talk and listen to people including what is expected as part of Local Healthwatch. <br />We are committed to the development of this project and to take the project forward successfully we need to engage with as many people as possible. It will be important to make sure the new organisation develops with the involvement of many local people so that it can best meet their needs. We hope you will participate and share your views over the coming months as this exciting project becomes a reality. <br />Yours <br />Matthew Ellis, <br />Stuart Poyner, <br />Antony Sumara, <br />David Colin Thome and <br />Joan Saddler <br />