Their Right, our Responsibility: Involving young people in their health care

1. Their Right, our Responsibility: Involving young people in their health care angela.ellins@newcastle-pct.nhs.uk Health Improvement Specialist and You’re Welcome lead Newcastle Hospitals: Community Health

2. You’re Welcome in policy “Compared to other sectors, healthcare systems are in their infancy in putting the experience of the user first, and have barely started to realise the potential of patients as joint providers of their own care and recovery .” (Department of Health 2010 Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS p13) “If children, young people and families have easy access to convenient health advice and support that are tailored to their needs, across key life stages, their needs are more likely to be met.” (Department of Health 2010 Achieving Equity and Excellence for Children p11).

3. What is it about? respect trust equality reliability suitable times confidentiality communication ownership values training skills accessibility Offering help non judgemental welcoming involvement sexual health publicity team work attitude

4. What is You’re Welcome? Ten evidence based criteria designed to improve acceptability, accessibility and quality of health services for young people regardless of the base or clinical setting. The self review workbook was developed through a national pilot of over 130 services within 4 regions. ‘The vision is that all health services in England that are accessed by young people will have achieved the You’re Welcome Quality Status by 2020’(Dr Sheila Shribnam, National Clinical Director for Children and Young People)

5. You’re Welcome criteria • Access • Publicity • Confidentiality and consent • The environment • Staff training, skills, attitudes and values • Joined up working • Involving young people in monitoring and evaluation • Health issues for young people • Sexual and reproductive health services • Child and adolescent mental health services

6. How young people are involved in shaping health services in NE England • Training & advice for health professionals • Informal visits to service settings • Verification visits • Development of resources e.g. www.gp4u.info

7. Young people should be involved in making things better. They could maybe go to meetings with adults and to feel welcome. Everyone should be encouraged to make contributions and express their opinions. Information should be young people friendly so that everyone understands each other. Young people could help make the design of leaflets, posters etc. So that it will attract other young people to the services. Large print, brail, audio and other languages of the charter should be available for those in need of it.

8. North East Regional You’re Welcome Celebration Event April 2011

9. Benefits of involving young people in You’re Welcome • workers attitudes change towards young people • workers understand how young people feel • services learn methods of involving young people • Improves feedback methods • Improves service publicity • Helps services develop confidentiality posters • Improves lay out of waiting room/colour scheme / music • Personal developments of young people

10. Benefits of You’re Welcome for health care professionals • Shape up health services to meet yp’s needs • Makes staff proud of service • Opportunity to work in different ways, develop skills, explore staff attitudes • Way to identify gaps / areas for development • Raises quality of service for all ages • Provides evidence for funders / commissioners • Questions assumptions about young people

11. Enablers- what helps? • Plan ahead • Identify resources / working group • Identify leadership • Involve young people from the beginning • Help & advice from participation partners • Receive training and support • Realistic timescales for implementation

12. Barriers - what hinders? • Conflicting priorities • Lack of protected time to undertake process • Inflexible working conditions • Leaving it all to the last minute • Attempting to do it all yourself • Lack of identified lead – to drive process and take responsibility for implementing change

13. Reflections • Strategic leadership (commitment / drive / passion) • Benefit of YW written into contracts and SLA’s • Adequate resources (at all levels) • Skilled / experienced participation workers • Pros & cons of paying young people • Tokenism – setting up young people • Cosmetic v long-term sustainable changes • Flexible approach depending on setting • Assumptions, fears and anxieties of staff

14. References Department of Health (2007) You’re Welcome quality criteria; making health services young people friendly, London. Department of Health (2010) Achieving Equity and Excellence for Children; how liberating the NHS will help us meet the needs of children & young people, London. Department of Health & Association of Young People’s Health (2010) Involving young people in the development of health services, London. Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2010) Not Just a Phase; a guide to the participation of children and young people in health services, London. Wolfe I et al (2011) 'Improving child health services in the UK: insights from Europe and their implications for the NHS reforms', British Medical Journal, 342, pp. 1277.