HEALTH chiefs have hit out at plans for another overhaul of patient liaison.

From April next year, local Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) forums, which allow members of the public to have their say on health priorities, are set to be replaced.

Their work will be taken over by Local Involvement Networks (LINks), designed to cover social care povided by the council as well as health trusts.

But East Lancashire Primary Care Trust's chairman Kathy Reade and chief Executive David Peat said the change risked further confusion for patients, as well as a loss of community-based services and sidelining of some services.

The introduction of LINks would be the second overhaul of patient committees in five years, with regular structure changes in between. In 2003, the government axed community health councils, which had existed since the 70s, in favour of PPI forums, with one for every NHS Trust, Foundation Trust, Care Trust and PCT in the country.

The new LINks, proposed under the new Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, would look at health and social services as a whole, with East Lancashire's group based in Preston.

At the PCT's trust board meeting on Wednesday, chairman Kathy Reade said: "My message to the government is stop messing about with public involvement', because now the public are confused and find it difficult to get involved in procedures.

"Since community health councils were abolished, we have had a number of different structures which have chopped and changed and been revamped. This is the latest one and I do hope it will be a more permanent structure."

But chief executive David Peat said he was already concerned about the new system.

He said: "The PPI forums moved from geographical to organisational basis, which I must admit I thought was a move forward because it meant some of the less high-profile services, like learning disabilities and mental health, got their seat at the table.

"If they are going to manage that under LINks, they will need a very large group - just in East Lancashire it would have to take in four or five trusts.

"We also have no idea how this is going to work for cross-border services, which is very important for East Lancashire because we have a lot of links with Bolton, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester."