Tell us what is most important to you.
We want everyone who lives in Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes to have the opportunity to shape the services that they use.
This means making sure your voice is heard and sharing what you feel is most important.
We have worked closely with strategic partners during the pandemic. These include Healthwatch, the Voluntary Alliance, local authorities and people from communities. This has allowed us to share important public health information and use your feedback to help us communicate better.
That approach has given people the confidence to get vaccinated and tell us about their personal experiences in accessing health and care.
The next few years are going to be challenging for health and care as we recover services after the pandemic. That makes it even more important that we keep our conversations with local people and communities going. That way, residents’ voices will be at the centre of all decisions about health and care services.
Help shape how we work with local people and communities
We recently asked residents, health and care staff and partners to help us to shape our approach to working with local people and communities.
Following this, we plan to co-design our principles for engagement.
We will share these as soon as they are finished, but some of the principles we’ve heard so far include:
- Listening to all communities and giving everyone an equal voice
- Making it easy for people to share their views
- Ensuring feedback leads to change
How can I get involved?
There are lots of ways that you can get involved.
You can join:
- Your local Patient Participation Group at your GP surgery
- Subscribe to our monthly newsletter
- Subscribe to our monthly podcast – follow ‘Health Conversations on…’ on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
- Join one of our Maternity Voice Partnerships. Find your local Maternity Voices
- Respond to our consultations (see below)
- Join one of our formal groups
Current Consultations and Surveys
Any current consultations that are open for feedback will display in the drop down below.
Previous Engagement
Find out about previous consultation and engagement activities.
Volunteering
Volunteering with health and care organisations in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) is a great way to support your local community.
There are lots of opportunities to get involved from volunteering for your local hospital or ambulance trust, for an organisation that works with the NHS, for your local council or supporting your community.
Volunteering can be highly rewarding. To find out how to get involved, contact the volunteer managers within our Partners, visit the Volunteering web pages on Partner websites or browse the UK’s national volunteering database.
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Charity
Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Milton Keynes University Hospital Trust
East of England Ambulance Service
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
In Central Bedfordshire and Luton, Community Voluntary Service (CVS) run volunteer centre services working with individuals and organisations. In addition, Voluntary Works is a consortium of local voluntary and community sector organisations.
In Milton Keynes, CA:MK is a hub for volunteering. They match volunteers with opportunities with local charities and community groups.