Workshop 2 Making it happen: a toolkit for involving service users (8)

Joe Forster, Low Secure Unit, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom joeforster@nhs.net

Abstract:

Service user involvement in health care research and service development is now widespread. There are no doubt several successful examples being presented at this conference. However the levels at which strategic decisions are taken can be less accessible to user-centered approaches. The need now is for involvement to be followed through from individual projects to higher level decision making. In this way national policy aims for a patient-led NHS can be driven by a bottom-up approach to improvement and reform.

This workshop is an interactive session designed to inspire participants to fully involve service users in research, service evaluation and development, and service delivery. It is concerned with the practical measures that make involvement happen rather than the finer points of methodology or analytical techniques. It will equip participants with knowledge, understanding and optimism to enable them to think outside the box in which individual projects sit and work towards truly patient-led services. Participants will be challenged to confront any preconceptions they may have about involving users, and encouraged to share their own experiences, good or less so, of involvement. Many groups are hard to reach or engage, but there are helping factors emerging from new work. These include: - consulting service users and staff together as ‘end-users’ where appropriate (eg in service design), - harnessing the public commitment of organisations to involvement (eg to exploit resources), - becoming flexibile, enabling and adaptable while retaining focus on the work in hand (to maximise engagement), - distilling complex issues into principles and criteria so all can understand (to enable ownership and continued involvement to higher levels).