Karen Howell, Chief Executive, Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust talks about the Public and Patient Participation Group, and invites our communities to get involved.
Have you heard about our Your Voice group? If you live in Wirral and have an interest in making sure our communities receive high quality health and care services and a first-class experience, then I think this will be something you may want to get involved in.
Your Voice is exactly what it says, a chance for us to hear your voice and the voices of the communities we serve when delivering our wide range of community health and care services.
Public and Patient participation groups are so important in the NHS and very much fit with our culture and values – Compassion, Open and Trust. We want the people in Wirral to help shape and influence how we provide care and contribute to ideas in a meaningful, informed and open way. It is about us listening and responding – after all it is you, your family and loved ones who come to us to receive care, support and treatment across our clinics, our wards and in your home.
You don’t have to be a current patient or service user. Being part of Your Voice is about empowering people to work with us to keep improving and ensuring we get it right for everyone. That is our ambition, and to help us achieve this it is important we hear a range of voices and have a diverse representation at our Your Voice meetings. We want to hear views, feedback and ideas from people who experience barriers or challenges others may not see.
Our Your Voice group meet every eight weeks for approximately two hours, through a mix of virtual /online meetings and in person when we can. We also alternate weekdays and evenings so that we can include those people with daytime commitments.
Your Voice is a really enthusiastic, friendly and energised group of people with a mix of Trust members and staff – and we are looking to expand further. We are so proud to have such skilled and knowledgeable staff within our Trust, but when it comes to Your Voice, it is our public that really matter and we truly believe working together is working best.
Your Voice members are invited to:
- work with us to improve the experiences of people receiving our care
- join conversations about our future, our plans and our improvements
- work with us to make sure our services are fair, equal and inclusive
- celebrate our goals and achievements with us
- and so much more…including a feeling of pride at helping to make a difference.
If this sounds like something you would like to get involved in then we would love to hear from you. There are many benefits to being a Your Voice member, take a look at our information page for more details and our joining form. We look forward to welcoming very soon.
For more information and a membership form visit the Your Voice page.
