Get Involved

Are you having trouble accessing the best treatment for yourself or someone you care for?
Here are some ways of bringing this to the attention of key decision makers in your local area.

Write to Your MP

A useful site is www.locata.co.uk/commons. Here you can find out who your MP is and their responsibilities towards you as a local constituent.

As well as making your circumstances known to your MP, you can ask them to write to your local health authority on your behalf or raise the issue in the House of Commons.

Write to Your Local Newspaper

Newspapers are always keen to know the views of their readers. An effective way of ensuring that your views are heard is to write a letter or article.

You may already know the most widely read newspaper(s) in your local area. Your local Yellow Pages should list their address. A quick call to their offices and you can find out the name of the editor to address your letter/article to. Here is how you can increase the chances of having your letter/article being published:

Be topical - keep an eye on recent local news and events, use them as an opportunity to refer to when writing in, eg cut backs in social services, hospital closures etc.

Keep it short and simple - it is more likely to be published if you stick to the point and don't try to raise too many issues at once. Editors usually prefer letters between 200 and 300 words in length, which is about one typed paged. If this is used you could stimulate further debate by following up with a longer article.

Make it local - Try and demonstrate how the issues affect you and others in the same situation within your local community

Include your contact details - Name, address and telephone number so that they can contact you to ask any questions or get further details.

Contact Your Local Radio Station

Local news based radio stations have hours of air time to fill. Write to them in the same way as you would to the local newspaper. Offer to be interviewed - while this may sound daunting at first you may be able to pre-record your piece. Or why not take part in a phone in or on air debate.