Newsletter, January 2009

Contents this month

• Main article - Where is the Credit Crunch Consultation?
• Project news
• New Addition to the Dialogue by Design Team

Project News

Analysis of Responses to the Pharmacy in England Consultation

Dialogue by Design has contributed to the analysis of a recent public consultation of the Department of Health, regarding the future of pharmacy in England.

Dialogue by Design was contracted through COI (the Central Office of Information) to produce a comprehensive summary of around 2,000 responses. Questions dealt with a range of issues concerning the regulation of medicine dispensing and the way local health authorities and individual contractors can work together to ensure a safe and sufficient supply.

There was limited time to carry out the analysis and thanks to great contributions from many of our associates, the summary report of the analysis was completed within two months of the start of the project.

The interim report was published on the Department of Health website on 16 January.

Common Assessment Framework for Adults Consultation

The online consultation on the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) for Adults starts on the 22 January 2009.

The proposals set out the principles for information sharing that underpin assessment and care planning for adults using health, social care and wider support services. They also cover developments that will help to meet the growing expectation that all those involved in caring for and supporting individuals will share relevant information. This will help to ensure that individuals do not need to provide the same information to different service providers. Information sharing needs to take place within a context of informed consent and secure information storage.

The CAF also aims to support the increased personalisation of support and improve outcomes for all adults with complex long term health and social care needs.

The online consultation is being run by Dialogue by Design. The website allows users to register, login and answer a series of questions around each section of the CAF. A number of consultation events are also being facilitated by our partner OPM throughout January and February.

For more information about the CAF consultation, including how to participate in the online consultation or how to register to attend one of the events, please go to www.dh.gov.uk/caf.