Alternatives to Litigation: Patient Advocacy: PALS, ICAS, etc.

• Introduction
• The GMC and other Professional Bodies
• NHS Complaints
• Patient Advocacy: PALS, ICAS, etc.
  • PALS: Patient Advice and Liaison Service
  • ICAS: Independent Complaints Advocacy Service
  • Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
  • Where Can I Get More Information?
• Public Inquiries
• Regulatory Bodies

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Where Can I Get More Information?

General

• An outline of Patient Advocacy provisions is contained on the NHS website
• A summary of PALS is given on the Department of Health's website
• A summary of ICAS is also given on the Department of Health's website
• icaslearning.com is a website that provides information for advisers and advocates working in ICASs, which contains some information that is equally useful for users of the service.
• You can read the legislation that requires NHS Trusts to provide ICASs in the Health and Social Care Act (2001)

Identifying your Local Trust

• If you do not know which Trust a given hospital comes under, you can find out by entering the name of the hospital on this NHS web-page (unfortunately, the name of the Trust in question is not very obvious: when you have clicked on the appropriate hospital from your search results, it appears at the top of the screen, after the text reading "This is in: Local services search > NHS Organisations >").
• If you do not know which Primary Care Trust is responsible for your area, you can find out by entering your postcode on this NHS web-page.

Further Information about the Abolition of Community Health Councils

The Abolition of Community Health Councils was

• Proposed in The NHS Plan (2000);
• Detailed in Involving Patients and the Public in Healthcare (2001); and
• Enacted in The National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act (2002)

English Independent Complaints Advocacy Services (ICASs).

There are nine English Independent Complaints Advocacy Services (ICASs). Their contact details are as follows: