Making Your Voice Heard.. The first decade of the Eastern Health and Social Services Council

2000-01: A new Millennium - and Beyond...

And so to the future.

The Eastern Council has been in business for 10 years and feels that it has done much to improve services for people who need and use them. It equally accepts that much still needs doing - and hopes to play a part in this in the years to come.

In their three year strategy covering the period 1999-2002, the four health and social services councils have already mapped out their tasks for the immediate future. These are:

o That councils should maintain a strong regional presence on behalf of all people using the health and social services. o That councils should give consideration to having themselves renamed, in a way that better reflects their consumer orientation. o That councils should be better funded. o That they should retain a committed and balanced membership, and o That councils should be more independent.

These are challenging aspirations for the future - which the Council will pursue with the same energy and commitment that has characterised its work in the past.

As the debate about future structures unfolds this Council will continually seek to influence the future arrangements fr public representation in health and social services and citizen participation more widely.