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Visit your MP about the NHS

April 22nd, 2011 by

Islington 38 Degrees Members hand in the petition to their MP

Photograph by 38 Degrees

Tens of thousands of us have emailed our MPs urging them to protect our NHS. Now we need to start organising visits so we can talk to them face-to-face and hand in the petition which over 260,000 of us have signed.

It’s pretty easy to organise a visit your MP. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide explaining how to do it:

1. Sign up with 38 Degrees to organise a visit to your MP

It’s important to let staff and volunteers in the 38 Degrees office know that you are organising a visit, so we can be in touch with updates. Take 30 seconds to fill in this quick form. 38 Degrees is a non-party political organisation, so if you represent a political party (for example, if you’re a local councillor, or hold a position within a local party group), please don’t sign up to host an event.

2. Arrange the visit (a few weeks before the visit)

Use the 38 Degrees phone your MP tool to find the name and number of your MP. Then book an appointment, and politely notify your MP’s office that you intend to hand in a petition, and that the press are invited.  There’s more advice on arranging a meeting with an MP here.

3. Pick a good meeting spot nearby

Once you know where and when you are meeting your MP, you need to find a location nearby where you can meet up with other 38 Degrees members before hand. A pub, a cafe, or community centre would be ideal.

Make it somewhere easy to find, and not too busy. If nowhere instantly springs to mind, try searching on the Internet - for example, using a site like Beer in the evening or the Yellow Pages.

4. Tell other 38 Degrees members (ideally at least two weeks before the visit)

Now you need to tell other 38 Degrees members about your visit to your MP – so you’re not alone when you go. It’s quick and easy to do that. Just:

  • Go to the 38 Degrees events hub and enter in the details of when and where you’re visiting your MP and where you should meet beforehand.
  • If you do this the Monday at least 4 days before your visit the 38 Degrees office will be able to email other 38 Degrees members near you and invite them to come with you.
  • Once you’ve added your event to our ‘hub’, we will be in touch with some extra advice  and some materials you might find useful.

5. Confirm the details (a few days before)
It might be worth calling your MP’s office again (using the easy to use 38 Degrees tool to find the name and number) to confirm that you’re coming, to let them know the media might be there, and to confirm that you want to hand in the petition.

6. Tell the local press (optional – a few days before)

  1. MPs pay a lot of attention to local newspapers and radio. So it’s a good idea to invite them to come.
    1. To make this easier we’ve produced a press release you can use.  Some details will need to be amended but it will help you on your way. Or if you are feeling creative you can write your own!
    2. Invite the media to come. Once you’ve got the press release written you can use google to find the websites of your local press – then find the “contact us” section and give them a ring and tell them what you’re doing. (more info below)
  2. Before the event the 38 Degrees office will contact you to let you know how many people in your constituency  have signed the petition

  3. Save Our NHS Poster

    24 hours before the event the 38 Degrees office will automatically email a reminder to everyone who has said they’ll come with you

7. On the day

  1. Meet up with the other 38 Degrees members at your agreed meeting spot
  2. Encourage everyone to introduce themselves and have a quick chat through what is going to happen. Make sure that people understand that they can be as involved as they are comfortable with – some people will want to talk to their MP, others might just want to be in the photo as the ptition is handed in, or to show moral support.
  3. Get to wherever you are meeting your MP ten minutes or so before the time you arranged, leaving plenty of time to liase with the MPs staff and say hello to the media.
  4. Talk to your MP, get photographs taken and talk to any journalists who are there!

8. After the event

  1. It’d be really helpful to share how it went. Post an update on the 38 Degrees blog or Facebook page. Send photos to emailtheteam@38degrees.org.uk
  2. Phone or email journalists. If they covered the event, thank them. If they didn’t, ask politely if there is anything that might persuade them to do so next time.

If you have more questions about visiting your MP, why not visit our Frequently Asked Questions section?

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  • Jacqui

    Hi

    I am interested in finding fellow 38 degrees members near me who are concerned about the NHS reforms. Anyone in the Swindon/Chippenham/Calne/ Avebury/Marlborough area?

    Many thanks

  • http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/38DegreesBlog-PeoplePowerChange/~3/yknRtTsUJ5Q/ 38 Degrees | Blog | 38 Degrees members in action over NHS

    [...] you every step of the way. Visit this page to put your name down and find out how to get started. Look here for a step-by-step guide. [...]

  • Elainenaughten

    Is there anyone in the St Albans Area who is interested in helping hand in a 38 degrees petition ?

    Elaine 

  • AlanL

    Everyone visiting their MP sounds great but I don’t think all handing in copies of the same petition with the same signatures is very clever. It’s a big gesture but doesn’t actually show we have any more support than just handing in a single copy – particularly when most of the signatures come from outside the MP’s. constituency. Wouldn’t it be better just to try to collect more signatures (locally) instead?!

  • Helen

    I’m inclined to agree with this, although as an indication of local protest it could be useful, especially if the press covers it. It’s quite a lot of effort, unless it has a significant effect. 

  • Jennifer Martin

    I’m interested in meeting or receiving emails from anyone
    who feels they or a member of their family have suffered due to failings in ANY
    area of health / care and how the complaints system supported / failed in
    resolving the matter.

     

    This may sound like a strange request at this time, but I am
    doing a study on this topic and believe it to be very important. It may even
    show or prove where people want or need changes and more importantly, why. The
    data collected may show a trend in one direction or another. Names etc will be
    kept confidential unless you state otherwise. Contact: Jennifer at   admin@peoples-princess-trust.org

     

  • Jess Day

    I’ve set up an event for a hand in to Cardiff South and Penarth MP Alun Michael but it isn’t appearing when I search.

  • Ann

    This really isn’t flexible enough.  We don’t need all this, we just need your Petition to PRINT OFF.  Our MP John Mann is fully behind us and has organised our own Listening Event in the absence of one.  We have had to use the Keep the NHS Public Petition, because we can’t down load YOURS!  Our meeting is this Friday 27th May at Worksop Town Hall and 7.00 pm.  We are inviting Clegg!  If he does not turn up our MP will arrange to present them to Clegg.  PLEASE, PLEASE, you need to become more interactive allow people to use petitions when they don’t need advice as to how to organise an event!

  • Anonymous

    Are you still having that same problem, Jess? We thought we could see it when we checked – let us know if that’s not the case where you are.

    Either way, it’s brilliant news that you’ve got this one arranged.

  • Anonymous

    HI Jacqui, if you organise the event and add it to the 38 Degrees website, then we can send out an email which lets other people in your area know about it and go along with you.,

  • Anonymous

    HI Elaine, if you organise the event and add it to the 38 Degrees
    website, then we can send out an email which lets other people in your
    area know about it and go along with you., 

  • Anonymous

    I think they’re both really important, Alan – a petition with over 380,000 signatures will be one of the biggest petitions most MPs have received, and if we just hand it in once, it might mean the message is less likely to get out (if we just gave it to David Cameron, for example, the message to other MPs considering supporting the changes might not get through as powerfully). Plus, I think a lot of MPs find it especially persuasive when their own voters send them a message like this. But helping the petition grow is hugely important as well because, asyou rightly point out, the more of us there are the more powerful our message will be. Let us know if you’ve got other questions.

  • Anonymous

    I think you’re right that local protest is especially persuasive, Helen, and we provide a guideline press release in case people organising hand-ins to local MPs would find that useful.

    A number of people who’ve organised events have actually said it hasn’t been too much effort to organise, as the 38 Degrees website takes care of letting people know about the events. If you’ve got other ideas for how we could make it easier, though, please let us know – we want as many hand-ins as possible to happen, so any suggestions would be really welcome!

  • Anonymous

    Hi Ann, thanks for getting in touch. The petition is several thousand pages when it’s all printed off, so we’ve been sending people a CD with the data. If you’re planning to go ahead with handing in the petition on Friday to John Mann MP then we can definitely make sure you receive the data by then, as well as let other people in the Worksop area that your meeting is going ahead. Let us know if you’ve got other questions or if there are other ways we think we could improve the process.

  • Daphne Hussein

    Have also requested a petition to print out without success.

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