Parkwood Healthcare

Parkwood Healthcare provides support services to a wide variety of clients including the provision of skilled nursing and care staff, the support of Local Involvement Networks (LINks) and the supply of Health Trainer Services.    

• Parkwood Nurses, through its three branches in London, Manchester and the East of England specialises in providing staff including nurses, care assistants and project workers, to the NHS, private and voluntary organisations.
• Three Local Authorities have commissioned us to be the host organisation to the LINks in Lewisham, Harrow and Greenwich. We provide community development and public engagement work and consultancy, research and information services to enable the public and local communities to have a voice and to influence the planning, commissioning and delivery of all the health and care services in each borough.
• In close collaboration with the NHS Primary Care Trusts in South East Essex, Berkshire West and Leicester we deliver Health Trainer services employing local people to work in the community to provide support, encouragement, information and advice to people striving to give up smoking, to lose weight, improve their diet and take more exercise.

Local Involvement Networks (LINks) 

Set up by Act of Parliament, LINks are the new structures to take forward patient and public involvement in improving local health and social care services.  They have statutory powers and will mobilise individual and community networks and energies to bring service providers and commissioners to account and ensure that they listen to the voices and views of people who use their services.
 
There is a LINk for every social services area and each one is supported by a Host organisation under contract to the local authority.  Parkwood Healthcare hold 3 LINk contracts for the London Boroughs of Harrow, Lewisham and Greenwich which have now all been in place for between 10 and 15 months.  Each has a small team responsible for providing administrative and technical support, advice and guidance.
 
The three LINks are now well established and each has an Executive Committee at its core which will be responsible for producing a Workplan based on local priorities for improving health and social care services.  It is most important to ensure that those involved in the Network (the Participants) are communicated with and given the opportunity to be included in the activities which will help the LINk achieve its outcomes.  Participants can undertake Enter & View to observe the quality of services, can sit on provider committees and represent the public point of view, attend meetings and speak out on issues of concern, and join the Executive Committee and its Task Groups and represent a community of users, carers and other constituencies. 
 
Each LINk aims to be diverse and inclusive and to represent as wide a cross section of the community as possible and with our expertise and support they will have the tools to achieve this. The relevant LINk websites can be found at:
 
www.harrowlink.org.uk 
www.greenwichlink.org.uk
www.lewishamlink.co.uk

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