Bristol Local Involvement Network

Your voice for health and social care in Bristol Bristol LINk is an independent network of people and community groups set up to help everyone have a say and help influence the way health and social care services are delivered. Make your voice count and get involved ............... Bristol LINks page

South Gloucestershire Local Involvement Network

Your voice for health and social care in South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire LINk is an independent network set up to provide an opportunity for the whole community to say what they think about local services, to raise issues of concern and question those who run services. Find out more and how to get involved ............... South Glos LINks Page

Welcome to the Care Forum

What we do

The Care Forum is an independent voluntary organisation. We work across Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. We also work across the South West Region.

Information

We produce regular newsletters and information sheets for voluntary and statutory sector contacts across Bath and NE Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. We also publish a variety of ebulletins. We can include your brochure, advertisement or information in our mailings or can arrange separate targeted mailings. See our about us pages for more information.

Research and publications

We can undertake research projects in the area of health and social care. We also produce publications including:

• Find It Out, Bristol directory of services for children with additional needs
• The Yellow Book, a guide for parents and carers of children with additional needs living in South Glos
• Spot On, a web-based directory of services for people with learning difficulties and their carers in South Gloucestershire

Networks

We manage a range of different networks for voluntary and community groups. These support information sharing and promote joint working. They are a means of sending out targeted information where needed, and meetings provide the change to present and discuss current issues and developments. We run networks across Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. For more information see out Voluntary Sector pages.

Events co-ordination and meetings management

We design and deliver one-off events and meetings. This includes initial planning, promotion, all aspects of administering the event, organising speakers, running the event on the day and reporting on outcomes.

Facilitation

Our trained staff can act as independent facilitators in a range of settings for both voluntary and statutory sector activities or meetings.

Public Involvement

The Care Forum is committed to ensuring effective engagement between local statutory and voluntary organisations. We advise on and promote good practice, from ways to ensure meaningful consultation to inclusive patient and public participation to independent reporting at NHS consultations.

Representation

We advise on how voluntary sector representation should be organised. We elect reps form our networks to health and social care multi-agency groups. We provide them with support and induction. Network members find out about new developments from their reps. Through the reps they can feed in their ideas and concerns to plans. The Care Forum takes part in many partnership groups. We give advice from a voluntary sector perspective and can also advise on effective partnership working.

Training

We can provide training to public agencies about how best to work with the health and social care voluntary sector. We provide our own programme of training to our volunteer advocates.

Room 102 - Database management and development

We manage a frequently updated database of national and local groups, services and organisations called Room 102. We offer a range of services to meet the individual information needs of voluntary and statutory organisations. These range from data checking and the production of partial data sets to the licensing of full databases. We can also advise on data collection and management. We offer a helpline, Purple Pages, that enables members of the public to access the information on Room 102 direct.

Advocacy Services

Our advocacy services deliver an empowerment model of advocacy and provide issue based client-led support and assistance. We offer a widening range of services, from self-help, signposting, general help and advice through to full advocacy casework.

We can provide all these services to meet your particular needs. Contact us for further information.