Consultation
They want to hear from you
It is now taken for granted that the voluntary and community sector will be consulted on plans and policies affecting the people they serve. Consultation is required around central and local government plans including education or adult services, local health services, transport , housing, planning and local policing . Recent examples locally include the Patient Transport service, the Day Care Review, the movement of opthalmic services, and the JSNA Community Needs Assessment.
The expertise of voluntary and community groups in working 'close to the community' and understanding their needs is valuable information. There is now more recognition that the sector should be planning services and helping to decide on priorities as well as supporting delivery.
Most groups cannot attend large numbers of meetings so it is not easy for them to be 'around the table' and to find out about plans. We believe it is important that groups are consulted and we offer a channel of communication for that to happen. We use our voice through our links into the partnerships, committees and planning groups where policy is created , feeding in the views and raising the issues that voluntary and community groups alert us to.
We want to hear from you
The Worthing Voluntary Sector Forum is a key consultative meeting for dialogue with decision makers; an opportunity to network and share news with voluntary and community sector colleagues. Further consultation happens through our direct contact with groups face to face, by telephone and email. We use focus groups to find out how our own services are being received and this website will play a part in enabling greater consultation with the voluntary sector.
If your group wants to make a point or get a question addressed and you cannot get to the meeting or event, let us know and we will get an answer for you.
It is true that consultation fatigue can set in when one after another agency wants to know what we think about this or that but it makes sense to try and respond positively; every opportunity to get the right message and information across should be taken.
