England's Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) have now published their "visions" for local healthcare services.

SHAs, which represent 10 regions within England, are responsible for developing improvement plans for local health services and act as an important link between the Department of Health and local providers.

The "local visions" outline the principles that will influence service planning and a framework that the SHAs hope will begin to improve local health services over the next ten years.

The SHA for London released its own document at the end of last year following a review by Lord Darzi, undertaken before he began the Next Stage Review of the NHS in England.

Responding to the views of the public and health professionals as part of the Next Stage Review, the remaining nine SHAs recently published their visions in advance of Lord Darzi's final report due at the end of June.

You can find the local vision for you part of the country by clicking here and selecting the relevant part of the map.

SHAs are still seeking views from the public about their plans. Look at the local vision for your area and see if it represents what you feel needs to be improved in your local health services. Please note that the London consultation has now closed.

Arthritis Care was joined by a group of people with arthritis to meet Lord Darzi, the Government Minister leading the Next Stage Review.

The event, on the 20 March, saw the group discuss some of the issues affecting the healthcare of people with arthritis before putting their views directly to Lord Darzi.

This represented an important step in our ongoing engagement with the Next Stage Review and an excellent opportunity for people with arthritis to have their say in shaping future health services.

If you would like the opportunity to contribute to the review, please check below to see what is happening in your area.

Lord Darzi has stated throughout this review that he wants to hear the views of service-users.

This is an excellent chance to communicate to policy-makers exactly what it is you would like to see happening to the NHS. How can services be improved? Are you happy with the healthcare you receive, and if not, what would you change? The views and needs of people with arthritis should be heard as widely as possible.

In your area

The Next Stage Review has an ongoing programme of local consulation. Within each Strategic Health Authority (SHA), people working in heathcare are investigating how they can start to improve services. To find out more about SHAs and to see which area you are in, please click here.

Find out what is happening within your SHA and see if you can attend an event or write to the review team. If you would like to see a map breakdown of SHAs in England, please click here.

• North East
• North West
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• West Midlands
• East Midlands
• East of England
• London
• South West
• South Central
• South East Coast

If you would like some ideas on what issues you could raise with your SHA, you can find Arthritis Care's formal submission to the Next Stage Review by clicking here.

As part of the Next Stage Review, Lord Darzi asked health professionals and stakeholders to detail the specific issues with services in the NHS and suggest possible solutions.

Arthritis Care made their formal submission to the review team in January, describing what steps could be taken to improve services for people with arthritis. The submission broke the issues down into the following categories:

• Quality and Outcomes Framework: a GP incentive scheme.
• Musculoskeletal Services Framework: guidelines for an effective patient pathway for people with arthritis.
• Access to rheumatology: required improvements to rheumatology services.
• Information: access to high quality information.
• Accessible and comprehensive services: high quality services including access to hydrotherapy and physiotherapy.
• Joined-up working: improving communication between multi-disciplinary teams.
• Implementation of NICE guidance: PCTs providing access to treatments approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
• Establishing NICE guidance: the process for producing guidance on new treatments and therapies.
• Commissioning: the process for establishing new local services.

With these building blocks, Arthritis Care aims to put arthritis services very much on the agenda for the Next Stage Review. To see the full text of Arthritis Care's submission, you can download the Word document below.

Arthritis Care attended an International Clinical Summit as part of its ongoing engagement with the Next Stage Review.

The event, which took place in November 2007, invited health professionals and service-user organisations to discuss the changes they would like to see in the NHS and to share good-practice.

Through workshops and question and answer sessions, attendees were able to share their concerns and expectations with each other and build a picture of how they would like the NHS to change. The organisers collected information from these discussions and fed them back to the Next Stage Review team.

As part of these discussions, Arthritis Care highlighted the issues that affect people with arthritis. Building these issues into the workshop responses, Arthritis Care ensured that the needs and concerns of people with arthritis are being communicated to the review team.

Hope for positive change

Tom Gentry, Public Affairs Officer at Arthritis Care, who attended the event, hopes that the consultation process results in positive change. “The Next Stage Review represents an important opportunity to influence the future of the NHS.

"Arthritis Care welcomes such a wide consultation and hopes that the views Lord Darzi gathers from this process will translate into service improvements and better outcomes for people with arthritis”.

On 4 October 2007, Lord Darzi published his interim report on the Next Stage Review. This report reflected on the views he had gathered during the initial part of his consultation and provided a flavour of the direction in which the review was going.

You can find the report at the following link:

Our NHS, our future: NHS Next Stage Review interim report.

At Lord Darzi's first major consultation event, he outlined what we can expect from the Next Stage Review and asked what we would like to achieve with it.

Following initial meetings throughout England with Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs), Lord Darzi convened an event to discuss the review with stakeholders (people with an interest in the NHS).

Following an introduction from Lord Darzi, the assembled health professionals and service-user representatives took part in detailed round-table discussions. The feedback from these discussions were fed directly back to Lord Darzi and NHS Chief Executive, David Nicholson, who attempted to address the concerns of attendees.

The event established some of the themes that will inform the Next Stage Review and made a large, collective contribution to the interim report published in October. Arthritis Care waits to see the outcome of their participation in this important early event.

Launched in July 2007, the NHS Next Stage Review involves consultation with service-users, NHS staff, and the public with the aim of improving how the NHS in England works and to refine its priorities.

It intends to engage with the following challenges:

• “Working with NHS staff to ensure that clinical decision-making is at the heart of the future of the NHS and the pattern of service delivery
• Improving patient care, including high-quality, joined-up services for those suffering long-term or life-threatening conditions, and ensuring patients are treated with dignity in safe, clean environments
• Delivering more accessible and more convenient care integrated across primary and secondary providers, reflecting best value for money and offering services in the most appropriate settings for patients
• In time for the 60th anniversary of the NHS, establishing a vision for the next decade of the health service which is based less on central direction and more on patient control, choice and local accountability and which ensures services are responsive to patients and local communities”

The review is led by Professor Lord Ara Darzi and is intended to be the most broad and widely consulted on review ever undertaken on the NHS. It is due to be completed by July 2008.

Our involvement

Arthritis Care established a role in the NHS Next Stage Review from the very start. As a stakeholder and voice for people with arthritis, Arthritis Care will be attending consultation events, monitoring the output of the review, and making a formal submission to Lord Darzi regarding what people with arthritis should expect from their NHS.

Abigail Page, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Arthritis Care, said: "The NHS Next Stage Review represents an important opportunity to contribute to the shape of the NHS in the future. Arthritis Care are committed to helping to improve services for people with arthritis and will continue to make sure their voice is heard throughout this review".

Lord Darzi is planning to hold local events throughout England to capture the view of service users and local stakeholders. This is a good opportunity to let local service providers know what you expect from your services. Contact your local Strategic Health Authority to find out more information.