LINks (Local Involvement Networks) will be established in every council area that delivers social care services. They will enable local people to come together on a regular basis to highlight local issues and scrutinise services. Last year I blogged about the challenges of making what was then a Bill into practical reality - suddenly we are at that point.
I am picking up from local people that sometimes it is not clear what the difference is between the LINks itself (and independent entity) and the Host organisation that will support the functions of the LINks (and be accountable both to the LINks itself and the local authority that procures it's services and performance manages the contract).
Part of the challenge is that the Act has not been prescriptive as to the specific nature of each LINks - it is up to local people to make decisions on structures, action plans and models. This is good as it encourages a bottom-up approach but can also mean that people lack a frame of reference for how to develop the LINks.
For me the key to negotiating the many practical and strategic issues that LINks present is in the development of strong and honest relationships between all the key stakeholders - local people, local authorities, Overview and Scrutiny Committees, Primary Care Trusts and other commissioners, service providers and the voluntary sector. It is important to find the space for these different groups to think through their own positions and understandings and build on these to create the relationships in which future action can take place.
The Act also emphasises that a key focus of LINks should be on improvement. It is worth hanging on to this aspiration in the coming months as LINks emerge. The key question for me is how are LINks going to make a real difference to peoples' lives and to the development and improvement of services.
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