Message from Dr Natasha Curran
|
|
Welcome to the third edition of Partners with People, the public involvement bulletin from the Health Innovation Network.
In November we launched our involvement strategy, and I am delighted to welcome our new Lived Experience Partners, who joined the HIN in February: Aurora Todisco and Faith Smith. This is an exciting move for us. While we have previously engaged experts by experience on a project-by-project basis, this is the first time we have had a position like this embedded in the HIN, which is part of our commitment to keep service users at the core of everything we do. Thank you to everyone who played a role in their recruitment process.
Aurora and Faith are already getting to grips with HIN projects and how we work. They have made valuable contributions to our work, including commenting on focus group topic guides for the HEAL-D evaluation, advising on involvement approaches for the InHIP respiratory project and being part of the steering group for our ongoing experience-based codesign project on pain and opioids management. We look forward to hearing from them directly in future editions of Partners with People, but in the meantime you can find out more in our recent blog.
In the wider world of involvement at the HIN, we recently published our plain English summary of our mental health crisis hubs evaluation. Mental health crisis hubs offer a promising new approach to delivering mental health crisis care, and the findings are likely to be of interest to members of the public as well as those providing care. That’s why working with experts by experience to produce a summary of the report for non-specialists was so important.
While we have taken strides forward in how we involve the public in our work, there is always more to do. If you have any thoughts about how we can develop and improve the way we involve experts by experience in our projects please let us know. We also want to grow our audience to ensure we learn from as many people as possible, so please do share this email and get in touch if you would like to offer anything to include in future editions.
|
|
Natasha Curran
Involvement & Implementation Team lead NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London
|
|
|
Introducing our Lived Experience Partners
We are delighted to welcome our two new lived experience partners, Faith Smith and Aurora Todisco, to the HIN. They will play a crucial role in helping shape and develop our involvement work and have already begun having an impact.
Find out more about Faith and Aurora, and what they hope to do with their new roles, in our recent blog.
|
|
The Language of Involvement
Involving the public is crucial to ensuring health and care services are designed as effectively as possible. However, it can be difficult to get the language of involvement right. In her recent blog Alice Beaumont, in the HIN's Insights team, shares what we’ve learnt about using appropriate language around involvement and how this can help improve engagement.
|
|
Maternity Project: Experts by Experience Needed
Content to follow
|
|
Asthma Project in Croydon and Bromley
Do you have experience of living with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or breathing difficulties? Or do you know of any community groups with members who live with breathing difficulties, especially from people who face challenges that might make it harder for them to access the help they need?
If yes, we would love to hear from you to help us understand experiences of getting help for these conditions. This is for a project to improve access to tests that help diagnose and monitor breathing difficulties. The tests will be available at local hubs in Croydon and Bromley, making it easier for people who need it most to attend appointments.
Please email HIN Involvement and mention ‘Asthma Project’.
|
|
Addressing Perinatal Health Inequalities
In the previous edition of Partners with People we shared with you the first blog in a series by Rosie Murphy, a Darzi Fellow at the HIN who worked on a project to address perinatal health inequalities in Croydon. The remaining blogs in the series have now been published. Find out more below:
|
|
Mental Health Crisis Hubs Plain English Summary
Mental health crisis hubs were set up in the early stages of the pandemic to improve access to mental health crisis care while minimising the risk of infection and time spent in potentially stressful A&E environments.
We knew this was a topic likely to be of interest to the mental health community, including members of the public who have experience of services. That's why we worked with experts by experience, including Faith Smith, our new Lived Experience Partner, to develop a plain English summary. This highlights the key learnings and recommendations in a way which is designed to be as accessible as possible.
Thank you to the experts by experience who fed into this.
|
|
|
Do you have any news or great examples of work related to involvement for a future bulletin? Let Sophie Lowry know.
|
|
|
FREED (First Episode Rapid Early Intervention for Eating Disorders) Network Shared Learning Conference
Monday 27 March, 9.30am-4pm
The AHSN Network in partnership with South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and Kings College London (KCL) are hosting a FREED Shared Learning Conference. FREED is an early intervention service for people aged 16-25 who have had an eating disorder for less than three years.
You can attend in person at 1 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP on online via Teams.
Find out more and register to attend.
|
|
#StartWithPeople Spring Event
Thursday 30 March, 10am-4pm
The #StartWithPeople virtual event is the main opportunity each year for people in the NHS and wider health and social care sector to gather and discuss how we work alongside people and communities.
Facilitated by the Public Participation team at NHS England, the day will include mainstage sessions and smaller interactive breakout sessions, all with the purpose of improving our relationships with the people we work in partnership with.
The event offers opportunities to connect with other health and care colleagues, and also learn ways to improve engagement with people and communities.
Find out more and register.
|
|
Co-Production Collective Cuppa April
Monday 3 April, 1-2.30pm
Co-Pro Cuppas are run by the Co-Production Collective. They are informal monthly sessions to connect with friends, meet new people and chat about whatever you fancy over a cuppa!
Find out more and register.
|
|
Tellmi: Bridging the inequalities gap with digital peer support
Tuesday 18 April, 12-1pm
The HIN are hosting an online webinar exploring how digital peer support is improving mental health outcomes for young people, tackling health inequalities and reducing the strain on education and healthcare through the Tellmi app.
A recent independent evaluation found statistically significant evidence that using the Tellmi app improved mental health. This webinar will share the results of Tellmi’s latest project to help reach seldom-heard groups of young people in Greenwich, south London.
Find out more and register.
|
|
Working with People and Communities Training
Learn how to engage with different people and communities to reduce inequalities and ensure inclusive access to healthcare's in this training course from NHS England.
Over two three-hour sessions, you will:
- learn how to work effectively with diverse groups can help you better meet the needs of the different people you work with;
- unpack how different communities can have very different experiences of healthcare as you identify who faces bigger barriers;
- explore inclusive engagement activities;
- develop an awareness of implicit bias and underrepresentation.
|
|
ARC South London Newsletter
The Applied Research Collaborative (ARC) South London produces a quarterly newsletter on involvement research. If you would like to be added to the mailing list please contact Savitri Hensman.
|
|
Southwark Community Health Ambassadors Network
Southwark Community Health Ambassadors Network is there to help inform, empower and support the community with issues relating to health and wellbeing.
Find out more about how to join and register your interest.
|
|
Involving Young People with Lived Experience Research
In this blog Jahan Foster, social research manager at Greenwich Healthwatch discusses a research project involving local young people, exploring the low uptake of long-acting reversible contraception in this blog from the Applied Research Collaborative South London.
|
|
Report on Attitudes to Sharing Health Data
The Patients Association has published The General Practice Data Trust (GPDT) Pilot Study: Report on Patient Focus Groups, a report on patients’ attitudes about sharing their health data for research and planning purposes.
The research found that patients mostly supported the use of patient data in health research, but they often didn’t like the idea that companies might make money from the use of their health data. Many felt they had not been given enough information about the GPDPR programme; some would have been happy to share their data if they had known more about the programme.
The researchers also asked focus group participants if holding patient data in a trust would reassure them about how their data are used. This was welcomed and the report goes into more detail about what patients thought of this idea.
|
|
Co-designed Guidelines for Antibiotic Use
Antibiotics are a crucial aspect of treatment for may bacterial infections, but it is important that they are used correctly. The Patients Association has worked with patients, carers, healthcare professionals and Pfizer to produce guidelines which help patients partner with their medical teams when deciding how to use antibiotics.
|
|
Transforming Outpatient Services for Patients
The Patients Association have been working with NHS England to look at how to improve GP referrals of patients to hospital. The aim of this was to look at how specialists could support GPs to reduce the number of outpatient appointments without compromising care.
Find out more about the recommendations and read the full report.
|
|
TEDx Call for Speakers
TEDx are holding an event in September and they are keen to feature patients and carers to share their stories and inspire change.
Find out more and apply
|
|
Centre for Society and Mental Health Lived Experience Advisory Board
The Centre for Society and Mental Health are recruiting people with direct or indirect experience of disabling barriers, neurodivergence, mental distress, mental illness, trauma, caring/supporting people in mental distress, and/or (ref)using mental health services including experiences of iatrogenic harm.
The are recruiting five new members of their Lived Experience Advisory Board.
Find out more and apply by 14 April.
|
|
Patients Needed to Share Thoughts on Pharmacist Training,
Wednesday 29 March, 2pm
The Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King’s College London (KCL) is looking for patients to give their views on our updated MPharm degree (masters qualification in pharmacy).
This is the core qualification that pharmacists complete before they go into practice. Pharmacist roles are changing with more pharmacists able to prescribe medication and working in new roles such as within GP practices. At KCL we want to find out what patients think of the changes we are making to the course to ensure students gain the skills they'll need for these new roles.
We are looking for people to participate in a 90 minute online focus group on the afternoon of Wednesday 29 March 29 at 2pm. We are offering participants a £20 Amazon voucher as thanks.
If you would like to give your views, or have any questions, please contact Dr Sarah Chapman (Senior Lecturer in Medicines Use).
|
|
|
|
|
