The CEO of NHS England, Sir David Nicholson said, ‘this is a once in a generation opportunity’.
The occasion was a launch event for NHS Citizen with a group of his top leaders in Leeds on 13th February 2014. He was echoed by Lord Victor Adebowale, a fellow Board member and Non-Executive Director, who said, ‘Even I, with all my privilege and position, am powerless when negotiating at the front-end of NHS services for my mother’s care. This cannot be right’.
Three Board members – Lord Adebowale, Ciaran Devane and Tim Kelsey, National Director for Patients and Information, NHS England have made a historic commitment to turn the rhetoric of citizen voice into reality. NHS Citizen aims to be a vehicle which engages the public in NHS thinking and action in a new way. At its heart is an Assembly meeting at which the NHS England Board will be held to account by the public in public.
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) has been awarded a grant along with three other partners, Involve, Demsoc and Public-i to develop the concept of NHS Citizen using a collaborative, co-produced process. TIHR will lead on the organisational development and culture change elements. We will work with the senior leadership and their teams in NHS England HQ and out in the regions to identify and incubate the behaviours that will support NHS Citizen, and those that will enable the Board of NHS England to work collaboratively with the newly developed Assembly.
The development work will continue until March 2015 as the different strands (digital design, face to face work activity and culture change work) of NHS Citizen mature, coalesce around an agreed model and take root. Putting the patient back into the heart of every interaction and decision will be reinforced at Health and Social Care Innovation Expo on 3rd and 4th March in Manchester, during which NHS Citizen will have its official launch.
The work is being led by Camilla Child, Principal Consultant and Researcher at the Institute, supported by Leslie Brissett, TIHR Member and Eliat Aram, the Institute’s CEO.
