A Question Of Independence .

The petition In Birmingham UK. for an Independent User Voice mechanism as well as for a "Patient Constituency" stands at about 75 so far .

Members of the public have been engaged in the issue because its the services they pay for too.

Mental Health issues though do not often reach the public consciousness although that appears to go along with a lot of disengagement on many issues - until it hits people individually .

But quite why the "User Voice" mechanism who are now mainly paid staff in the Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Trust are running a "consultation" on September 25th 2006 for Service Users with reference to the Trusts bid for Foundation Status appears to be fraught with a certain paradox .

The Trust have not optioned a "Patient Constituency". Whether or not the "User Voice" mechanism which is paid for by them will even mention this specific matter remains to be seen . "UserWatch" will report back for your interest .

You might have thought that long term patients of the Mental Health Trust with cyclical problems over years would have especially been contacted with regard to the option of a "Patient Constituency" for their expertise on "Bi-polar" or "Psychotic" patterns of distress and tidal recovery and crisis . They were not however as a policy of individualising contact as far as UserWatch can ascertain . Equally there are some patient's UserWatch has had contact with dangling with hardly any services who have been disordered by the pain of their backgrounds .

Its another group that do not appear have not been engaged in any realisitic way ...