The engagement and involvement of carers is central to the continuous improvement of our services. We aim to work closely with those who use our services and those who care for them so that we have the best possible understanding of their perspective and experience.
What is the carers' council?
The carers’ council was set up to strengthen the collective voice of carers and ensure that that this is heard across the organisation, as we work together to ensure people receive the highest quality of care and experience at the Trust.
We use the term carer in its broadest sense to mean the most relevant people in a service user’s life and social network. A carer can be a friend, parent or other family member. This includes children and young carers and partners in same sex relationships.
We ask our service users who they view as their carer by clarifying who they see regularly and who gives them support. This may change over time.
The carers’ council aims to ensure an effective voice for carers and provide opportunities for carers to meet and get involved in many areas of Trust’s work.
We work together to:
- Embed equality and diversity in our partnership with carers, aiming
- Ensure a broad range of perspectives from carers on the delivery of care and development of services.
- Ensure meaningful carer engagement and involvement across the Trust. This includes supporting the development, delivery and monitoring of the Trust’s coproduction and partnership strategy.
- Enable carers to provide and review feedback on Trust services, collaborating to and help develop improvement strategies to improve the quality and consistency of the experience of patients, service users, carers and staff
- As a networking and information sharing forum.
Meetings are normally every two months, with a minimum of four per year. Additional meetings are arranged if needed.
The following representatives attend these meetings:
- Carers: aiming to reflect the range and diversity of carers and services at the Trust. Members are encouraged to attend meetings, with the understanding that won’t always be possible
- Director of Nursing and Patient Experience or Deputy Director of Nursing
- Trust operational or professional leads, as appropriate
- Triangle of Care leads
- Chairs of local carers groups and community groups such as Carers4Carers and the Carers Network.