Heart Voices

Other ways to get involved with BHF

 

Welcome to Heart Voices!

Campaigning tool kit largeHeart Voices aims to make it easier for you to add your voice to NHS and local government decision making, to influence improvements to your local heart health services.

We want to encourage our supporters to work with the NHS; to praise it when it works well, and to help bring about change when it needs to work better.  

We hope that Heart Voices will help you to get your voice heard.

Take action now!Find BHF services near you

Understanding the health service is the first step in supporting it to work better.  To find out more about how the NHS works where you live, and to learn how to get involved in improving your local services, simply select your country.

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland

   

   

Find out more about Patient Involvement

What is Patient Involvement?

The NHS is keen to involve patients and the public in decision making.  This process is referred to differently, depending on where you live in the UK, but the most common term is Patient Involvement.  Put simply, Patient Involvement is a way of making sure that the people using the services are involved in decisions about how they should be designed and delivered.

Why is Patient Involvement important?

Patient Involvement is vital!  If we want a health service that meets our needs, we’re going to have to explain what those needs are to the people who make the plans and spend the money.  In the same way that you wouldn’t build a car without thinking about the person who will drive it, you shouldn’t provide a health care service without thinking about the person who will use it.

How do I get involved?

How you get involved differs across the four nations. Some involvement structures are up and running, while others are still being discussed and thought through.  At the moment you may need to do a little bit of research to find how to have your say in your area.   However, BHF Heart Voices aims to do the hard work for you.  We have brought together key information about how the NHS works, and how you can have your say. To find out what’s happening in your area just select the button for your country at the top of the page.

Join us in the Community 

Our Online CommunityBHF’s new online community is a great place to share your ideas and experiences. The Heart Voices team are using the community to make sure you can stay up to date with what’s going on.  We’ll let you know about opportunities for you to get involved, host discussions about NHS changes and developments that may affect you, and invite experts to share their thoughts about how best to get your voice heard. 

Join the discussions and start your own. 

 

Hearty Voices Training

Our free one-day training course will help you to develop the skills, confidence and knowledge you need to influence heart health services for the benefit of heart patients across the UK.

Find out more about our training

Heart help FAQs - Cardiac Support GroupsIf you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, register your interest by filling in this enquiry form or call us on 0844 576 6333.  There are no courses currently scheduled, but if you're a patient or health professional and know of a group of between 10 and 18 patients and carers who'd be interested, contact us on 0844 576 6333 and we'll bring Hearty Voices to you!

In Scotland we're working in partnership with Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland to provide training on patient involvement. To find out about Hearty Voices Scotland, please call And Carver on 0131 561 3353.