About Community PALS
What is PALS?
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) for Gloucestershire's Health Community was first set up in April 2002.
PALS is a confidential service providing information, advice and support to patients, their families and carers. PALS aims to help to resolve concerns quickly by finding answers to the questions or referring on to appropriate agents or specialist advocacy services.
Understanding the Health Service and all its complexities can be daunting and finding answers can sometimes be difficult. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service are here to listen, provide answers to questions, or to find someone who can.
Community PALS work closely with the PALS service in Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Gloucestershire Ambulance NHS Trust.
On the 1st November 2006 the Community PALS merged with Gloucestershire's GUiDE, the Health, Social Care and Disability Information Service, and are now known as GUiDE & PALS.
Who is PALS for ?
PALS provide support to patients, carers and relatives who live within the Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust area. PALS also serve the Gloucestershire Partnership Trust.
The NHS services they can help you with are:
* GPs (Including Out Of Hours)
* NHS Mental Health Services
* NHS Learning Disability Services
* Dentists
* Opticians
* Pharmacists
* Podiatrists
* Health Visitors
* District Nurses
* Midwives
* School Nuses
* Community Hospitals
* Community Physiotherapy
* Speech Therapy
* Occupational Therapy
Who do PALS involve ?
PALS seek to promote the importance of listening to patient enquiries and concerns. To support this the PALS team are working with all staff who have direct contact with patients, their families and carers. The PALS team aims to work with staff as they seek to provide help and information regarding enquiries or concerns raised by those receiving care or treatment.
Why has PALS been created ?
PALS is a part of the NHS Plan, to ensure that services are more open to patient and carer needs and that feedback from members of the public does lead to service improvement.
Through providing information to the Trust Boards PALS seeks to contribute to developmnents and progress in:
* Patients receiving more information about the treatment choices
* Patients feeling more listened to than talked at
* A strengthening in Patients choice
* A greater awareness within the NHS services of the Patients experience whilst receiving health care.
Who are PALS accountable to ?
PALS are accountable to the Planning, Performance and Communication Director of the Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust.
Information or concerns raised by patients is given to the Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust and Gloucestershire Partnership Trust four times a year.
PALS are also accountable to the Strategic Health Authority for the development and productivity of the service.
What happens if you have a concern ?
* You can contact the Community PALS team office (contact details are in Community PALS Team section on the contents button list)
* All information will be treated in confidence and your permission is required if concerns identified are to be taken forward.
* If you wish to make a formal complaint, we will give you information about the Trust's complaints procedure and provide support.
Your views CAN make a difference.
PALS would be pleased to hear your views, and we would like you to tell us what you think about NHS Health Services provided in Gloucestershire.
Your name will not be attached to the information provided, unless you make a specific request for it to be added.
The anonymised information is given to Trusts' Board of Directors and is provided as evidence to support future developments in services.
You can contribute to this by contacting the Patient Advice and Liaison Service.
