Introducing 'Citizens' Voices' and how to have your say.

"If these groups could be a starting point for this type of dialogue we could have a very powerful force indeed"
- participant in `People's Perspective Deliberative Group' for Future Issues debate.

These are the views of nine groups made up of people approaching health from the full range of perspectives - patients, carers, professionals and so on. Their vision of the future of the NHS and the environment it will be operating in over the next fifty years will be an important springboard for further debate at the conference.

Their vision identifies four fundamentals:

• The NHS will remain true to its core values and a free service

• Sharing of information and decisions around care will be more balanced between professionals, carers and users, with `self health' and alternative therapies playing a greater role than now.

• A holistic approach to health will influence policy and organisational development.

• There will be public participation at all levels of health policy, including research.

Important questions for the conference include:

• How can we develop systems that are not dominated by particular interests and fragmented by working structures?

• Can we learn to build consensus on priorities, plans and performance standards that come from reliable information and a people's perspective?

• How can all citizens share in the ethical debates that arise as our knowledge of what is possible grows?

Some major concerns about citizens at all levels working well together on health are:

• The NHS is discriminatory, and fundamental social and economic inequalities are not being more widely addressed.

• We want a fast, reliable emergency system and a responsive longterm helath system. Is this achievable?

• People in Scotland and Wales see enormous potential in their new democracies. Will regionalisation in England help?

Please take the time to fill in a questionnaire on this strand of the Debate for Our Future.

You can also register your overall personal view of what you think the NHS needs to do to ensure it thrives.

Read the full text before joining the debate.

Please contact us if you have any queries or would like further information: future.issues.nhs@dial.pipex.com