The listening exercise

The Future Forum reports have been published following a “pause, listen and reflect” exercise which took place in April and May of this year focused on the Health and Social Care Bill. The independent group has attended around 200 events and has met more than 6,700 people face-to-face. More than 25,000 people sent their views to the Forum by email, while a further 4,000 sent private comments, completed questionnaires or website responses. The reports1-4 have been widely welcomed by health and social care organisations, charities and employers organisations, as well as public sector unions. You may feel that the NHS is largely in the hands of the Government of the day and that, ultimately, you can have no influence on the outcomes and future of the organisation. However, the Future Forum has been listening to experts and those people who have a vested interest. Whether we attended the events or not, we all have a huge interest in the future shape of our health services and I hope you took the opportunity to make your voice heard. The recommendations made by the reports have been significantly influential, not only in halting the political process but also in changing some of the fundamental implications of the Bill before parliament. The reports will be reviewed within the parliamentary process – possibly going back to committee stage – before the Bill is once again set before parliament. So, what are the recommendations that have made the Coalition Government change tack so significantly?

Recommendations by NHS Future Forum

Sixteen recommendations were made by the Future Forum Groups, in a series of papers. Space precludes all 16 recommendations being written in full here. The response by the Government to the recommendations is shown in italics.