You are invited by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement to join CHAIN 3, anational network for people with an interest in innovation and improvement in the NHS and social care.
CHAINs (Contact, Help, Advice and Information Networks) are free, multi-professional and informal online networks for people working in the sphere of health and social care. They provide a simple, non-hierarchical mechanism for mutual support and sharing experience, ideas and aspirations, using a unique combination of facilitation, online directories and targeted e-mails. The CHAIN model has been externally evaluated and found to be highly valued and effective. (Seehttp://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7449/1174 and http://chain.ulcc.ac.uk/chain/documents/CHAIN3_evaluation.pdf).
The first CHAIN was established as part of the NHS Research & Development programme in 1997, and membership of CHAINs 1 and 2, (a network for people interested in workplace-based learning), exceeds 4,000. CHAIN stakeholders now include the Department of Health, the Health Foundation, and the NHS Institute for Innovation & Improvement.
In March 2006 CHAIN was commissioned by the NHS Institute for Innovation & Improvement to establish a new CHAIN for people who have an interest in Innovation and Improvement in health and social care, (CHAIN 3). CHAIN 3provides a rich pool of contacts who share an interest in innovation and improvement from the widest possible range of organisations and professions with a focus to health and social care. As a member you will benefit from access to all of the online CHAIN Directories, enabling you to identify and make direct contact with other members as you please.
CHAIN members may also work with a CHAIN facilitator to use the network for a wide range of purposes in the context of innovation and improvement, such as raising queries, generating interest in a particular issue, or disseminating and testing ideas. Members will not, however, be bombarded with unwanted e-mails – tight targeting ensures that CHAIN members receive only message that are highly relevant to their individual fields of interest. CHAIN is therefore not like a notice-board, chat-room or discussion forum, but works on the basis of occasional, well-targeted 1:1 e-mail messages about things of particular interest to individual members. (The average number of targeted messages each member receives per year is around 20).
Joining CHAIN is free and takes only a few minutes, and you may withdraw from the network at any time. Simply complete the on-line joining form: http://chain.ulcc.ac.uk/chain/join_chain3.html
Please pass on this invitation to colleagues within your organisation who have an interest in innovation and improvement.
