Weekend Three
Reflections from The People’s Panel on Health and Care
What the Panel said
JULIE: “On the the third weekend, we got the chance to listen to some experts. And it was geared up that they had got these people, deliberately, to answer some of the questions that we had all submitted. So they’d made a conscious effort to find the best people to answer the things we wanted to know the most… Things are getting serious now. We’re getting to the nitty-gritty of things now. Because this is where it’s starting to be something important.”
EBENEZER: “The revelation was that, yes, we’ve talked about The People’s Panel, we’re all in this…But to realise that there is a proper design. That this has not been done in an ad hoc manner. There is a properly structured design. And going through the principles…it was a a big eye-opener, for me.”
DEBBIE: “We heard from some experts that were talking about funding and how things actually worked. And that was quite interesting, to hear the different views… Because there are such differences in, for example, GP surgeries: how they’re run and how they’re funded. The differences that actually makes to the people that are receiving the services.”
BECKY: “So later in the afternoon, on Saturday, we heard from a number of experts surrounding staffing in NHS and social care. I really think this was something…well, it was one of the main points that we took from the weekend. There seems to be a big issue. So I think, although we probably had that in the back of our minds, these speakers really helped us understand what these issues were and what it’s starting to look like.”
ROSEMARY: “Well, with Chris Jones i don’t have to look at notes. I listen with very keen attention. Because he was saying hospital is quite harmful to the majority of elderly people, who still have wants and aspirations and needs of their own. And, really we need to be looking at a kind of care that takes their wishes and needs and aspirations on board.”
JULIE: “I think it’s Tom Pollard, the mental health worker… He was so passionate about his work and about what he wanted to do. You could feel his frustration; a part of things not being quite how he wanted them. But also that he had hope for it improving. And he just was a real advocate for mental health work and for getting people the right help.”
DEBBIE: “What we’re wanting to do (and what we’re being asked to do) is very, very complex and there’s not an easy-fix solution to it. I think it was put across that we’re not going to be able to fix everything. We’re not going to be able to put forward every idea that we wanted. And that’s why, as groups, we were asked to focus in on what was important, what we found as a group was important.”
BECKY: “It would be great to see how some of the opinions you’ve put across have reached that bigger picture. And to stay involved right through. My Dad asked me this morning, he was like ‘Oh, how’s your day looking today?” And I thought ‘Well, I’ve actually got an an interview planned for The People’s Panel’. You know, we’ve got to a point now where it’s really starting to feel like we’ve got all our ideas together. It’s a possibility that it might, at some point, get put forward to government. So I think I’ve gone from almost being like ‘Oh My God, I’ve got this thing at the weekend. I won’t really speak too much about it’ to being a bit loud and proud about what I’ve managed to get involved in.”
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