All Blog Comments

David - Public Experience — because experience matters

David — Mon, 3 Aug 2009 21:13:32 +0000

How would it "save" money to have more people claiming a state pension??? Wouldn't it be better if the experienced older person continued to earn - perhaps using their experience and knowledge to train younger people or start a business which employs them?

Kevin Pearson -

Kevin Pearson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:05:32 +0000

Hi, Contact your local councils Family Learning Service. This is what they do and nearly every local authority has one. Kevin Pearson Gateshead Council Adult Learning and Skills Manager

Alan - Public Experience — because experience matters

Alan — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:38:51 +0000

As you are well aware the law does not apply to the police because of the vital work they do in upholding the law, supporting the government and preventing dissent. Being permitted to speed and park where they like is a mere perk which no right thinking member of the public would resent. You could complain, but you would merely earn yourself the kicking which all whining liberals deserve.

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:47:28 +0000

It seems a great shame when government - which is there to act as our servant and to do as good a job as possible - is deaf and dumb to expertise from the people it's meant to help. That just feels all wrong as a relationship. It seems to lack humility and to defy common sense. I guess also that FoI law has a long way to go. Will it be a racthet I wonder, or has it already hit an immovable object?

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:52:05 +0000

Did you have any particuar experience which promptd this idea?

Alister Humphreys - Public Experience — because experience matters

Alister Humphreys — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:56:58 +0000

From an operational efficiency viewpoint it would be great if the whole of Government utilised the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG). This dataset details the address down to property level, a significant advantage over traditional building level address datasets, just think of all the people who live in flats up and down the country! While all Local Authorities in England and Wales contribute to the NLPG, a much smaller number actually exploit the full value of the data. At Experian QAS we've worked on some large scale projects, including a joint venture between three local authorities who wanted to use their new shared services centre to capture and validate citizen addresses against the NLPG. On a smaller scale, in London we've worked with the London Borough of Brent who cleanse citizen addresses against the NLPG as part of their Client Data Index project. This is a process run frequently so that London Borough of Brent have the latest address information for their citizens. These projects are already starting to deliver efficiencies and cost saving back to local government, offsetting some of the hard work that was required to build the NLPG in the first place. The great thing about the NLPG is that in addition to detailing the address down to individual property level, it gives information on what are know as non-addressables e.g. parkland. This is invaluable information for our emergency services. Think of your local fire brigade being called out to a fire on Clapham Common. Being able to pick this area out from the same dataset as one which will pinpoint a particular flat on Clapham High Street with a chip pan on fire has distinct advantages beyond cost savings. Where speed of response is key, the emergency services could literally save lives by being able to quickly access one single address dataset.

Liz - Public Experience — because experience matters

Liz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:36:21 +0000

I think this is a good idea. I recently looked into commuting from Brighton to London on a part time basis, there was such a thing as a Daysaver where you could buy 5 journeys that you could take in the month (not as cheap as a season ticket but better than buying on the day), but it was very restricted and probably not on offer by all rail companies.

LB Lambeth - Public Experience — because experience matters

LB Lambeth — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 21:24:03 +0000

No. You were sent to the back of the queue because you refused to follow our clear directions to use only black ink. Are you so ignorant that you can not read, or so selfish that you think that the rules do not apply to you. Either way this is anti-social behaviour, which you will agree, must be punished. Instead of whining you should be grateful that we allow you to apply again.

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 13:16:17 +0000

But....but....but....THIS IS IT! Just use publicexperience to describe what it's like when you touch the civil service. You are the mystery shopper! We all are! Doing it this way costs the taxpayer nothing, and it's good for our blood pressure to get stuff off our chest, or to say thank you when that's appropriate. So post again, with any direct experience you have - good, bad or indifferent. Thus is Mystery Shopping brought to Whitehall, courtesy you via publicexperience

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 07:49:06 +0000

This seems so sensible. For a pre-registered patient to do an appt by email is a no-brainer. Also the recep staff can deal with it at a quiet moment and not to that rude "too busy on the phone to talk the the person standing in front of them" thing....

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 06:57:06 +0000

That earlier comment looks a bit churlish. Systems thinking looks very attractive, yes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking ...and making public services focus on the customer not on targets is EXACTLY what publicexperience.com is intended to do. BUT: it does this simply by recording real experiences of public services (and Wibbies). The starting point needs to be "Here's what happens now". There's plenty of "here's clever idea" floating around, How is one to judge which idea is better of more practical than any other? But authentic reality at he receiving end never lies....

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 06:43:40 +0000

Yup, it's absurd to have to fill out so many intrusive forms and to have to recomplete the same data. Government has promised many times to solve this problem but it cant be done with bigger central databases becuase YOU are the person who knows your needs and circumstances. I therefore think the solution lies in better personal information management tools at your end (just like you can use the web). And goverment agreeing to accept your "feeds" of data from your PC. There's a policy description of what I mean here - http://ctrl-shift.co.uk/2009/06/what-will-vrm-mea... Dont hold your breath for government to change its policies on this (it promised a solution to single change of address by 2005). But this big change to user-controlled and user driven data services is about to break upon us all. And it will solve this problem I think, in an empowering, respectful, satisfactory, money-saving and legal way.

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 13:21:41 +0000

I wouldnt disagree. But the point of pubicexperience is to gather real evidence of real experiences. Was there a real experience you had which prompted this thought? The world is full of people in armchairs shouting at the radio. That's fine when watching football, but it wont work as a way to fix public services.

wmheath - Public Experience — because experience matters

wmheath — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 13:18:16 +0000

Yup. Shorten the feedback cycle. That would be a lot better! Better also if we could keep our own medical records to a far greater extent (as already happens with neonatal)

wmheath - Public Experience — because experience matters

wmheath — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 13:14:57 +0000

This is wonderful feedback from the front line. I sense there's huge experience and common sense with people who face the public, but they're disempowered by central mechanised rules-based systems. That's what publicexperience is meant to help with. Thanks!

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 13:04:29 +0000

Yup. That's not a unversal service is it? It's clearly discriminatory. I wonder if it's illegal?

William - Public Experience — because experience matters

William — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 13:02:24 +0000

I dont get it. What was your personal experience of public services that prompted this thought?

Steve_Beard - Public Experience — because experience matters

Steve_Beard — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 12:13:43 +0000

I agree. Targets have had their day. Over emphasis on targets, league tables, etc has driven the wrong behaviour in public and private sectors. It is time for a complete rethink about empowering staff and creating a culture of continuous improvement with an "adult" appreciationof outcomes rather than outputs. We cleaned up our benefits systems and reuduce waste and failure. Processing now averages 13 days for new claims and 3 for changed circumstances - this would never have been achieved through targets.

J King - Public Experience — because experience matters

J King — Tue, 2 Jun 2009 20:34:55 +0000

You should be asking why you got a letter from your GP asking this. The reason is that the QOF system means that to get the maximum payment they have to record smoking status at least every 15 months. Did they also offer you assistance to stop smoking in the letter, if required of course. If not, this was just a cynical exercise to maximise practice income, not to look after you as a patient.

Lou - Public Experience — because experience matters

Lou — Tue, 2 Jun 2009 10:14:33 +0000

i live opposite a school and parents are parking there from 2pm, so they have a space. They show no concern for residents. My car has been damaged by parents trying to squeeze into spaces, there are double yellows on half the road however the parents still park there. we have held meetings and asked for residents parking. However the council does not want to know as it means spending money. As i have grown up where this school is i know that most of the parents live close but are to lazy to walk. This will lead to children becoming lazy and obese which in years to come will be a strain on the health service. Personally i think the council are only concerned with making money not spending it!