Get Involved – Make a Difference!
We are Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. We have over 9000 staff providing healthcare services, including mental health, Forensic, intellectual disability and physical health services across Nottinghamshire and the surrounding areas.
The Involvement, Experience and Volunteering team help staff work together with service users, carers and families to design and change services. We need you to get involved and make a difference!
It is really important that we understand what matters to people, what we are getting right and what needs to improve. You know what it’s like to receive care from our services (or you have supported someone who has). You can use your experiences to help us design, plan and change our services so that they deliver good care, to you, your loved ones and to future users of our services.
By working together with you, we will make better decisions that lead to services that are more caring and better meet everyone’s needs.
The principles below help us to work together respectfully, involve a range of people and make good decisions.
An Involvement Partner is a person who has received support from Nottinghamshire Healthcare (or cared for someone who has) and works together with us to improve services.
For most of our roles and projects you don’t need to have any particular skill or knowledge, just bring yourself and your experience. For some roles and projects, you would need specific knowledge or a specific skill (like interviewing), and for most of these roles, we would provide you with training.
If you do have a special skill (e.g. teaching, writing, filming) you may be able to find a role or project where you can use this to help us improve services, either as an Involvement Partner or as a Volunteer.
We are looking for people who have experience of healthcare services and can work with us to make them the best they can be. If you have a current issue with a service that you need to address, you should raise this with the service directly (or by providing feedback). We want you to share your experience, good and bad, but we also need you to hear different people’s experiences and work cooperatively on a range of topics.
There is lots for you to get involved in. You can choose how much you do, and which projects or roles interest you.
Some of the things you could do as an Involvement Partner:
- Helping to design new hospitals, wards and services
- Interviewing new staff with us
- Improvement Projects’ – where we work together to make services better
- Helping us to plan for the future care that will be provided by our services
- Tackling local health and social care related problems – such as loneliness, intervening early to prevent hospital admissions, and care in the community
- Sharing your story to give hope to others or to enhance staff training.
Training:
The Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team offer free training for Involvement Partners: some is specific to roles, some is open to all. These include:
- Partnerships: How to work collaboratively to make a difference
- Building your confidence
- Representing yourself and others in meetings and projects
- An introduction to Quality Improvement
Once you’re registered, you will be sent information about upcoming training, including how to book yourself on. There is no pressure to attend training, it is offered as an opportunity for you to learn new skills and contribute confidently to involvement projects.
Support:
The person running the project you are involved with will provide you with the support you need to enable you to be involved. This might include:
- A ‘Welcome’ call, to introduce themselves and answer any questions
- An introduction to the service and/or project
- Practical help, to access a venue or join an online meeting
- The information you need to take part
- Support in the meeting or call
- Help to claim expenses
You can speak to this person if something isn’t quite right (for example, you don’t feel able to contribute fully). You can also speak to the Involvement Experience and Volunteering Team (our contact details are on the final page of this leaflet) if you have any difficulty with being involved or you want to speak to someone outside of the project.
We may contact you about group support too if you’re in a specific role (for example, sharing your story as part of staff training). This is a good opportunity for you to meet other people like you, and it helps us to understand whether people are being supported properly, enjoying what they’re doing and feel they’re making a difference.
Alternatively, speak to the Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team on 0800 052 1415
We will confirm your registration by email and you will be sent information about the upcoming project/s and role/s that you have asked to be involved with (and any training opportunities). You will also be given the name and contact details of the ‘host’ of the project/role with which you’re involved.