Discussion papers and reports

In January 2019 the government made a change to the legislation that governs how pharmacists dispense medicines. This change comes into effect this Sunday 10 February 2019 and is applicable to both primary and secondary care. The aim of the change is to provide for any future situation where there is a serious shortage of a specific prescription medicine.

This briefing outlines what the Serious Shortage Protocols are, how they will work, their consultation process and emerging concerns.

National Voices is the coalition of 140 health and care charities in England, bringing the voice of patients, service users and carers to bear on national policy.

After working with partners on the implications of EU withdrawal for health and care over the last 18 months, and based on information from members who work with patients, service users, and the NHS and social care systems, National Voices is now calling on the UK government, working with parliament, to exclude the option of leaving the EU without an agreement.

This is a summary document of a technical briefing sent to policy leads and directors in NHS England. It presents a detailed account of a coherent vision for improving health and wellbeing outcomes through interlinked actions across the priority workstreams of the long term plan. Here, we pick out single key points to help the teams involved.

Now the NHS has turned 70, and with the Government preparing a long-term plan for the service in England, a broad range of leaders in charities and voice organisations have come together to offer our views on what should happen next to improve health and care – within the NHS and beyond.

Over a period of two years, National Voices, Volunteering Matters and NAVCA have worked with in nine areas of England to raise awareness of the importance of local voluntary and community organisations in the personalisation of health and care services, particularly their role in enabling people to access and make effective use of Personal Health Budgets (PHBs).

Policy makers have been aspiring to a ‘patient-centred NHS’ in England for at least 20 years. Person-centred care has become an increasingly prominent stated ambition both of national policy and local practice.

What difference, if any, have these stated ambitions made to the experiences of people who need and use services and support? We wanted to know.

Direct negotiations between the UK and the EU have started. The negotiators now meet for one week every month to work through a sequence of issues.

National Voices is a member of the Brexit Health Alliance, a group of organisations convened by the NHS Confederation and including industry, professional bodies and patient organisations.

The Board of NHS England has launched a public consultation, which will result in statutory guidance to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), aimed at restricting the prescribing of treatments and remedies that are judged to be of ‘low clinical value’.

National Voices, the coalition of health and care charities, has a number of concerns about the nature of this consultation process. These are set out in a position statement on 'low value' prescriptions.

In June 2014, National Voices set out to explore and test how communities of practice could facilitate the spread of large-scale change across England’s voluntary sector working for health and wellbeing.

This publication reflects on our experiences over the last 3 years, and in the spirit of communities of practice, aims to share reflections in order that others can use our learning.