The new Patient and Public Involvement Forums have formally replaced community Health Councils.

There are now 572 PPIFs, involving over 4,000 local volunteers. Their role will be to monitor local health services from the viewpoint of the patient, and to encourage more local residents to become involved in healthcare delivery.

They will be monitored by a new Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, which was established by the government in January of this year.

"I'm delighted to welcome these new Patient and Public Involvement Forums," said health minister Rosie Winterton. "From today, the public will have a real opportunity to voice their opinions about local health services and will be able to get involved in shaping them. The huge numbers of people who applied for places on forums ? over 4,700 ? show that the public really are interested in health and, more importantly, want to have their say."

"Because forums will set their own agendas, issues important to local people will be top priority," she added. "Influencing health services is no longer the prerogative of the professionals or those used to getting their voices heard."

But the Conservatives lamented the end of CHCs. "This will be a sad day for the NHS," said shadow health and education secretary Tim Yeo. "CHCs have performed an invaluable service which their replacements, Patient Forums, will find hard to match.

"CHCs have been protecting patient's rights for almost 30 years. CHCs played a key role in bringing to light events at Alder Hey and in supporting the victims of Harold Shipman. We fear that Patient's Forums will be no substitute to CHCs: the staff will not have the same expertise or local knowledge and they will be overstretched."