How to get involved

There are a lot of different ways to get involved with the Northern Trust which will help us to develop and improve the services we deliver. Some examples would be to attend a focus group or meeting, join our user panels and forums and participate in patient surveys.

A number of services have established service user panels, which meet regularly.

If you are interested in becoming involved, we would like you to get in touch.

Join our Involvement Network

The Northern HSC Trust Involvement Network is made up of service users, carers and representative groups who live or are based in the Northern Trust area.  There are currently over 300 members.

The Involvement Network are offered opportunities to support the Trust and help us to improve our services. We may be in contact with you to help us plan and review services, or even be in touch when we are thinking about developing support information, such as leaflets or service user information packs, for input from you on the layout, colours, that it is accessible and in a format that is easy to understand.  We also send out information that may be of interest to you about support available in the local area and any upcoming training opportunities.

Carer Pathway Steering Group

The Trust’s Carer Pathway Steering Group is a carer-led forum to promote partnership and effective communication between carers and the Trust.  The Group ensures effective engagement with carers in relation to services and works to raise the profile of informal, unpaid family carers across the Trust area.  Both Chair and Deputy Chair positions are held by carers.

Disability Consultation Panel

The Disability Consultation Panel influences the work of the all five Disability Action Plan work streams, ensuring implementation of regional good practice at local level and monitoring the implementation of the Trust’s Disability Action Plan

Engagement Advisory Board

Given the challenges faced by health and social care we are open to new ideas and ways of working and have publicly advertised the opportunity to become a member of a new Engagement Advisory Board.  Membership of the Board will reflect all the communities we serve and will work with Trust staff to ensure we are approaching our engagement in a way that meets the needs and interests of all communities, with a focus on targeting the most hard to reach groups.

Engagement Advisory Board Terms of Reference

The Learning Disability Forum

The role of The Learning Disability Forum is to make the Trust more accessible. The Forum assists with interviewing staff, training staff, and making information more accessible. The Forum is service user led.

If you are interested in being involved in any of the groups above then we will support you in a number of different ways.  We will provide you with the appropriate information and any training that you require, reimburse you for any out of pocket expenses and provide you with any personal support that you may need.

Medicine and Emergency Medicine Service User Engagement Panel

The Medicine and Emergency Medicine Service User Engagement Panel provides an opportunity for members of the public, including service users and carers, to give their views on services and be part of the discussion to help shape and improve services for the future.

The focus is on experiences and services across medicine and emergency medicine, which may include emergency departments, inpatient wards, alternative urgent pathways (such as Antrim Direct Assessment Unit), elderly rehabilitation, and frailty units which provide specialist assessment and treatment for older people.

Find out more about the Medicine and Emergency Medicine Service User Engagement Panel.