Published: 29 July, 2010
by TOM FOOT

THEY had almost survived a painfully drawn-out meeting in the Town Hall chamber.

But the final item on the agenda proved too much for the few remaining members of the health and scrutiny committee on Wednesday last week.

A jargon-heavy consultation document provoked a torrent of abuse from elected councillors – and calls for “plain English” to be used in public documents.

The Strategy for Service User Involvement – which appeared to have been written by a malfunctioning robot with a triple doctorate in obscurity studies – had been drawn up by the Camden and Islington Foundation Trust.

Its purpose? No one could really say.

Councillor Andrew Mennear, the leader of Camden’s Conservative party and new member of the council’s health scrutiny committee, admitted he had struggled to get past the first sentence.

He told the meeting: “I don’t understand a word of it. I get bogged down. I’m sorry. I just can’t read it. 

“It has to be in a language we understand, plain English. No one will understand this. 

“Something about engaging [people with the health services] should be written to draw the reader in – especially if it is aimed at people with mental health issues.”

The strategy document was designed to help people with mental health problems have a say in which services gets funded in Camden and Islington.

It contained a commitment to achieving a “threshold of competence” and stated that an effort should be made to “ensure maximum synergy”.

It also stressed the importance of “monitoring for optimal good practice” and  improving “service users’ experience as well as clinical outcomes and efficiency”.

Scrutiny committee chairman Councillor John Bryant said: “There are a lot of words, in what appear to be meaningful sentences. 

“But I have no idea what it really means. 

“We are talking about waffly principles.”

Mental health campaigner Scott Stevens, responding to the document, told the meeting it was filled with “cumbersome language”. 

An earlier draft of 25 pages had been cut to eight pages, he added

Colin Plant, from the Foundation Trust, said: “We need to take your comments on the chin and respond forthrightly. 

“Any document has to be in plain English. If we find that it isn’t, we will have to address that.”

The Strategy is available for public consultation until September 3.