This is the text of our letter as sent to HSJ and published this month:

"Tim Gilling rightly focuses on the capacity to hear what people are saying about their experiences as a critical, and undernourished, component of NHS Performance. This insight requires a shift away from a paternalistic or cynical approach to public involvement.  Too often NHS leaders see public involvement as a way of laundering opinion to support organisational priorities - thereby missing its transformational possibilities and distancing the NHS from the public.  Investment is needed in the capacity of the NHS to engage fully with the public on a serious level.  Investment is equally needed in the public's confidence and capacity to become much more actively involved in shaping the future of the NHS.  Without both the search for innovation and reform is likely to deliver more of the same, only less of it."