A PATIENT champion is frustrated over delays to a new forum designed to give patients more of a voice in Worcestershire.

Janie Thomas says she has had to set up an interim “patient panel” because of delays to the formation of the new Worcestershire Local Involvement Network (LINk), which will represent the interests of the county’s patients.

The LINks are new patient bodies in the process of being established across the country in an initiative led by the Department of Health.

Mrs Thomas, an unpaid volunteer, said members of the old patient forums, now dissolved, did not automatically transfer to the new LINk system which had upset some members.

She said: “There was nothing up and running in the meantime and a lot of goodwill was lost. It’s frustrating.

“We got the PCT to set up the patient panel to plug the gap in the meantime. Hopefully the expertise and goodwill of the patient forum will not be lost.”

Andrew Hawker, of the Shaw Trust, has been contracted by the county council to manage the changeover.

The Shaw Trust is the “host” organisation which co-ordinates the new network.

He said the delay was caused by necessary work by local LINk members on the “governance” of the LINk which sets down how the new organisation will work.

He hopes the LINk can be launched some time in the new year and will give patients more say than the original Patient and Public Involvement Forum (PPI).

“We’re making sure this is absolutely correct. It’s completely different to the patient forums because it involves social care as well,” he said.

“The frustration for members was that they were expecting something to be in place in April. It has been a long process. There are other councils in other parts of the country who have not contracted a host.

“We’re ahead compared to some of the others but I can completely understand the frustration.”

More information about the LINk can be found at commu nityvoicesonline.org.