kane.mitchell

Planning a service change programme is hard at any time. Differing partner priorities, competing stakeholder expectations, and challenging political environments are just a few of the many variables that demand our attention when we’ve got that blank Gantt in front of us. It’s no wonder, then, that the first things we reach for are those…

It’s a new year full of new possibilities and I decided to ask our directors, Caroline Latta and Paul Parsons, what they have planned for Stand in the year ahead. Here’s what they had to say. Caroline: The way we’ve planned has changed since we started. At the beginning there was lots of next-week and…

Hi, I’m Callum and I’m the communications and engagement intern at Stand. I’m straight out of university and this is my first experience of a professional work environment. My lovely colleagues have asked me to write about my first impressions and the kind of things that I’ve been involved in since joining the company. I…

We recently got some feedback that made us think about why we do some things the way we do them.

Early last year NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI) updated an update to guidance on merging CCGs that had been in place for three years. The updated guidance took account of the vision set out in the Long Term Plan for streamlined commissioning arrangements that align with sustainability and transformation partnership (STP) and integrated care system (ICS) footprints.

The global pandemic has created a new norm in terms of shifting involvement activity to digital methods and it’s important to recognise that a large majority of ‘traditional’ face to face consultation activity can be replicated online.

At Stand we love our work. It’s really satisfying to know our efforts mean the voices of the public are heard and better informed decisions are made. We love learning from others and sharing our learning with clients, colleagues and our wider networks through our blog and resources.

One of the challenges of planning a process of making decisions about health services that involves a public consultation is that the consultation takes centre stage. Perceptions about how long a consultation should last can dominate, leaving little time in a programme timetable for the important work of preparing for a consultation and acting on its outputs.