Medicine and Emergency Medicine Service User Engagement Panel

Get involved!

Would you be interested in joining our new Medicine and Emergency Medicine Service User Engagement Panel?

We want to work with members of the public as part of our commitment to ongoing development and improvement.

Panel members will meet on a quarterly basis to share their experiences and discuss improvement projects.

Feedback will be used to inform plans and decisions.

While the Division has engaged with service users on an ongoing basis around various topics it would now like to create a more formal structure for engagement.

The panel will include staff and service users and its overall aim is to ensure personal and public involvement on the development, design and improvement of Medicine and Emergency Medicine services within the Northern Trust

Different topics/projects will be discussed at each meeting.

These could include, but not limited to:

• Phone First
• Enhance Care Project (EPCO)
• Discharges from Hospital
• Rapid Access Pathways
• Frailty Pathways

Programme of work

Service users and carers who get involved with this panel will:

• Share experiences, knowledge, insight, and expertise.
• Review and comment on papers, proposals, and plans.
• Provide input into plans and decisions.
• Bring issues and concerns from service users and carers to the group.
• Represent and provide a service user and carer perspective.
• Utilise the expertise, knowledge, and skills of service users and carers.
• Inform, shape, and influence plans and decisions.

Support

Panel members will be provided with the following support to fulfil this role:

• Introductory session to enable potential members to decide if this is an area they want to become involved in.
• Meetings will be either in-person or online – whichever is more convenient to members.
• Meeting dates will be agreed at least one calendar month in advance and agendas/papers will be sent to all panel members one week before the date of the meeting.

Reimbursement for out of pocket expenses which includes travel costs and the payment of replacement care.

Personal skills and abilities

The following are the skills, abilities, personal qualities and attributes which will be required from panel members:

• Able to contribute to group discussions from either a Service User or a Carers’ perspective
• Be a good communicator
• Respect and recognise different viewpoints
• Ability to commit their time to the panel which will involve
  • Pre-meeting reading
  • Attendance at quartetly meetings for one calendar year – each meeting will last approximately one hour and will be conducted either in-person at Antrim Area Hospital or online via Microsoft Teams
• Agree to confidentiality if requested.

As an initial step, we intend to hold an initial information session on Monday 25 March to discuss the role of the panel and its format.

If you are interested in attending this session, or if you like to find out more, please get in touch before 5pm on Wed 13 March.

Email Chiarrai.Gallagher@northerntrust.hscni.net or ring 07548 946858.

 

 

 

7th March 2024