Recent successes
Public meetings - case studies
Stourbridge, Dudley and District Voluntary Group
In 2007 Stourbridge, Dudley and District Voluntary Group ran their third successful public meeting along with the Dudley Primary Care Trust and the Dudley Group of Hospitals.
These meetings, which are called Diabetes Public Involvement Events, offer ‘a direct opportunity for people with diabetes to acquire information about diabetes care in the area from a panel of local healthcare professionals and commissioners’.
At the 2007 meeting the audience was given a presentation by the Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust on the progress in delivery of diabetes care. The panel were then asked questions on issues such as the need for another Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse, access to blood testing strips and eye screening. All questions had been submitted prior to the meeting.
A report following the meeting was put together by Hazel Cogzell from the voluntary group who advises that recording the meeting with a dictaphone is a good idea for accuracy and that sending a draft copy around to the panel for comments before its publication can also be useful. Such a report is good for both reference and holding the local PCT to account.