Local Involvement Networks or LINks are groups of volunteers that have been set up to enable communities to engage with health and social care organisations at a local level. LINks are different from their forerunners, the Patient and Public Involvement Forums, in that they consider issues of both health and social care, unlike the PPI forums that dealt solely with issues of health. As was the case with the PPI forums, LINks look at issues that affect communities and do not deal specifically with individual complaints. A number of former PPI forum members are interested in becoming members of LINks. Their experience and expertise will be valuable as will the input of new members, particularly those with personal or professional experience of social care issues.
The membership of LINks is much wider than was the membership of the PPI forums. There is no formal application or interview process. Involvement in a LINk is whatever the individual member or group wants to make it. You may decide to get involved in certain areas of health and social care by attending meetings on these issues or you may decide to respond only to consultations. How you get involved is up to you and there will be appropriate support in place to ensure that, regardless of the method of involvement, everyone's views are heard. A flexible approach to involvement is key as one of the goals of LINks is to reach “hard to reach” groups and communities, and enable them to influence health and social care services. It is important that people get involved in any way they can to help improve these services.
Each LINk is supported by a host organisation. CEMVO (The Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations) is the host for Essex and Southend LINk and for Thurrock LINk. Its role as a host is to facilitate the process of public involvement by supporting the LINk to engage in activities that it identifies as being of local importance. In addition, the host manages the finances of the LINk, for which it is responsible to the local council that also monitors its performance.
In supporting a LINk, the role of the host can extend to publishing news bulletins, actively increasing the volunteer pool or even maintaining a web presence. The specific type of support that the host gives the LINk will depend largely on how the individual members of the LINk have decided what the LINk should do and the amount of funding that is available.
For information on our LINk projects, please click on the links below:
CEMVO has worked with various BME groups over the past ten years and delivered a number of projects. This section showcases a few of these projects but if you would like information on any of the others listed at the end, you can contact us.