LINk County Durham

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Background

What is the LINk?

Local Involvement Networks or 'LINks' were set up by the Government in April 2008 to give local people a stronger voice in how their health and social care services are delivered. All LINks are be managed by local groups and individuals who will decide what their priorities are and how they will work. To help them with this, each LINk has a "Host" organisation to support them in their work. 

The LINk's are able to:

• Obtain the views of people about their needs for, and experience of, local health and social care services
• Enable people to monitor and review the commissioning and provision of care services
• Enter and ‘view’ certain local health and social health and care services
• Make known the views of local people and make reports and recommendations
• Develop positive working relationships with those responsible for commissioning, providing, managing or scrutinising local health and social care service

To enable County Durham LINk to do this we have a joint working protocol with NHS County Durham and Durham County Council. To find out more please click here.

Host Organisation

Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act each Local Authority was required to appoint an independent sector host organisation to support the LINk development and operation. In County Durham, the Host is the Pioneering Care Partnership.

The Host organisation recognises the COMPACT as a framework to promote and support partnership between the voluntary and community sector and Durham County Council.