Northern Trust launches Acute Co-Production Partnership

22 August 2018

The Northern Trust has launched an Acute Co-Production Partnership to encourage personal and public involvement (PPI).

PPI is a legislative requirement for Health and Social Care organisations as laid down in the Health and Social Services (Reform) Northern Ireland Act, and is the active involvement of service users, carers and the public in Health and Social Care (HSC) services.

From April 2018 all acute service improvements within the Northern Trust (including medicine, emergency medicine, surgery and clinical services) have personal and public involvement.

The partnership was launched at Antrim Area Hospital in early 2018 with an initial meeting involving local volunteers and the Patient Client Council. The aims of the partnership are to improve services, user experience and productivity and to help better utilise existing resources.

Service users and members of the local community can get involved in a number of ways – by sharing how they use services, their personal experiences, and helping to design, commission and deliver improved services.  ‘Expert patients’ are given appropriate training and guidance to help them seamlessly engage with the review process.

A series of short in-house videos have been produced to showcase what being an expert patient is about and how to get involved.

Watch the videos here
About the Acute Co-Production Partnership – NHSCT 
Patient Client Council – Acute Co-Production Partnership
Eve Booker, Expert Patient (volunteer)
Rachel Quinney-Mee, Expert Patient (volunteer)

Ashley Steele, Business Manager for Acute Services said ‘I’m delighted to be leading the Acute Co-Production Partnership for the Northern Trust and actively encouraging members of our community to get involved in shaping our services now and in the future. We need local people who can challenge our thinking, and together we can build a better healthcare system with service users at the heart.’

If you want to get involved, help input into healthcare services and even become an ‘expert patient’, the Partnership is holding an open event called ‘Services in Focus’ on  Monday, 10 September 2018 between 7-9pm in the Lecture Theatre, MDEC, Causeway Hospital.  Topics included in the programme include: Strengthening Causeway, Dermatology, ENT, the work of the Alzheimer’s Society and the role of the Patient Client Council.

Light refreshments will be provided.

There are no booking requirements, however, we’ve designed a survey to collate information about which areas of service improvement interest you.  We’d ask you to complete this prior to attending:

https://consultations.nidirect.gov.uk/doh-northern-hsc-trust-equality-unit/nhsct_acute_co-production_partnership-2

For more information on how to get involved contact: acutePPI@northerntrust.hscni.net

 

22nd August 2018