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This blog is authored by our National Service User Forum member Pat Kenny discussing his experience of speaking at an NHS conference about health in the justice system.

With just 20 days to go until polling day, this week saw all of the parties launching their manifestos for the General Election. Not to be outdone, today we have launched our own version – a ‘Revolving Doors Agency Manifesto’ setting out five priorities for an incoming government.

Local government has got used to bad news in the budget. For many, the Chancellor’s latest offering will not look much different, with £30 billion in further public spending cuts earmarked for the next parliament.

A participant in the research for A Good Life: Exploring what matters to people with multiple and complex needs blogs here anonymously about her experience in taking part in the ‘creative methods’ research.

More than two years into their role, the first generation of police and crime commissioners remain a controversial addition to public service landscape

Soon after I started working as a researcher at Revolving Doors I began to look at the various models and programmes aimed at people with multiple needs. I realised that although ‘usual services’ often do not work for this group, there are lots of interesting programmes which can achieve amazing outcomes for people in this situation. These models depart from the ‘norm’ of service delivery, and often challenge conventional wisdom.

Today’s new report is both a helpful confirmation of some of what we know about people facing multiple and complex needs, and a fresh challenge to the conventional wisdom.

Funded by the Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Clive Loader and delivered by the probation community rehabilitation company (CRC), the service targets short sentenced prisoners who pose a high risk of reoffending but don’t currently qualify for statutory supervision by probation, matching them with a mentor – including trained peer mentors who have direct experience of the criminal justice system.

Today I was at the Liaison and Diversion Development Day hosted by Mersey Care NHS Trust at the Indigo Centre in the grounds of Ashworth Hospital just outside Liverpool.

There is a growing consensus that making progress in improving opportunities for people facing multiple and complex needs will require ‘system change’. This is particularly vital, so it is said, in a time of austerity when introducing new interventions is less achievable.

Last week at a ceremony in Church House, I was presented with a Churchill medallion following my 2011 trip to Australia to identify new and innovative responses to people with complex needs.

The Home Affairs Select Committee have been keeping me busy this week, with their report on Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) published on Monday and our response to their inquiry into policing and mental health submitted yesterday.