Service User Contribution to Secure Service Quality Improvement Sarah Markham and Roger Sharp

1. Service User Contribution to Secure Service Quality Improvement Sarah Markham and Roger Sharp Service User Experts

2. Overview

3. What does service user involvement mean in the Quality Network, to date?

4. The Service User Expert Team • At the start of Cycle 8, 13 SUEs working for the network • How did we find out about the role? • Staff at service recommended applying • From an existing SUE visiting service • Quality Network member of staff • Seeking out role with Quality Network

5. Involvement in the QN • Recruitment • Job description and personal specification - applicants are shortlisted on this basis • Interview with Quality Network Team and the Advisory Group Service User Advisor • Induction • Formal induction session with all of the newly recruited and existing SUE • Training on all aspects of the job role • Support • Project Link Person • Annual Contingency Planning • Quarterly peer-support meetings • Annual feedback and work review meeting

6. Roles and Responsibilities of Service User Experts • Service User Telephone Conference • SUTCs form a vital part of the Self-Review stage • Service User to Service User • Each service user expert has a script and a list of questions specific to the service • Peer-review Visits • Approximately one per month or roughly 3-10 per cycle • Now able to attend each day of the review • Integral part of the Peer-Review Team • Chair service user meeting

7. Roles and Responsibilities of Service User Experts • Advisory Group Representation • Two representatives to provide input and feedback from SUE and review experiences • Presenting at Events • Workshops are held to focus on areas of challenge from the previous year • Annual Forums • Newsletter Contributions • Consulting on standards development

8. Developments for the future • Consultancy for Service User Involvement: • Reviewing the purpose and role of service user experts in the context of the QNFMHS • Providing a full specification of training needs of project team and SUE team • Reporting back to the Network at the end of March and presenting the findings at the Annual Forums • Providing extended training; for example, group facilitation

9. How can we involve service users at member services?

10. How the QN involve service users at member sites • Engagement within the peer-review process • Encourage services to work with patients when filling out the service user meeting section of the self-review workbook • SUTCs provides peer-review team with patient opinions prior to the day • Encourage patient guides on the peer-review days • Meeting with service users • Newsletters and Events • Regular patient contributions from member services • Attending workshops or Annual Forums • Submitting artwork for use on reports

11. How units could involve service users in the process • Member services supporting the network • Designating a patient for calls and is available at the scheduled time • Giving patients the questions beforehand • Ensuring that staff and patients know in advance that the process is not an inspection • Filling in information for all of the standards in the self-review workbook • Ensuring that involvement is meaningful and not tokenistic

12. Why should service users be involved?

13. The Benefits of Being Involved For the Service Users: • Sharing and gaining experiences while on review visits • Feeling valued – staff seek your opinion, part of the team • Learn something new from each review • Supported in role by SU training • Social inclusion • Gives you a real experience of work and as part of team • Great way to get on a pathway to recovery • Gives you confidence leading meetings and interviewing staff • Gain life skills • Great opportunity for paid employment and use experiences

14. The Benefits of Being Involved For the Member Units and other services: • SU involvement has provides a global experience and provides a unique view point • Feedback from people who have a good idea of what can work and what can’t • In SU meeting and the telephone conference, there is a lot of value for patients in speaking to somebody who was once in their position

15. What should SU involvement mean in the future? • SU involvement should mean involving users in every aspect • of the service being provided to them • SU involvement is a marker of a patient centred approach • Reviews have shown that involvement in the CPA process and care planning is increasing • It should occur on a number of levels: individual care, community/ward level, service level and in wider structures • An opportunity to give something back and provides services with a different perspective to use for improvement • The real question is: • ‘Why shouldn’t service users be involved?’

16. In Summary... In terms of the Quality Network, it is committed to involving service users at every level of the project and are currently reviewing the work with the aim to further develop and improve involvement. The Team also welcomes any ideas on how we can engage member services in supporting their own service users further.

17. Any Questions?