Medicine and Emergency Medicine Service User Engagement Panel

The next Medicine and Emergency Medicine (MEM) Service User Engagement Panel session will take place on Tuesday 4 June from 6pm – 7:30pm in Bretten Hall, Antrim Area Hospital.

It will cover the SAFER Patient Flow Bundle, which is a practical tool used by staff in MEM wards to try to minimise unnecessary delays for patients.

It is based on the ethos that a patient’s time is the most valuable currency in healthcare. It is focused on all staff working together to treat acute symptoms promptly, optimise patient experience and safety and enable patients to be discharged in a timely manner.  Discharge planning should begin on admission and should involve the patient, their relatives and carers (as appropriate) and the whole multidisciplinary team, all working together to achieve a smooth and timely discharge.

To register your interest in joining the service user engagement panel or to confirm your attendance at the next panel session please email Catriona.Haughey@northerntrust.hscni.net

Background

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

Members of the MEM Service User Engagement Panel 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 now wants 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.

2nd May 2024