Consultation is the word that comes alongside cutbacks.

How many times have residents been given their chance to have their say on controversial plans, but then those plans go ahead anyway?

What has to happen for a consultation to make a difference?

It is unlikely that the 3,500 views put forward in the healthcare shake-up for south and mid-Essex will be enough - not when there are an estimated 1.2million people actually affected.

The consultation, which ran from November to March, has been heavily criticised.

And for such a big issue it seems only having the views of such a small number of hospital users simply cannot give decision-makers the full picture of what the changes will mean for patients.

And that isn’t fair on either the patients or those making the decision.

The onus in these situations is put on the public to make sure they have their say.

But is that really the best way to go about it, particularly when the decisions being made are about the healthcare provided to all of us young and old?

Healthcare shake-ups, which mostly mean some sort of cutback, are not welcomed by patients because they do not want to see a reduction in what care they can access.

And why would they?

But to find the best way forward, the most views possible are needed if there is any chance of figuring out how to make any cutbacks work for those who will be affected.