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Getting Involved

The Adult Social Care Programme in the North East aims to deliver greater choice and control for people who need social care and to develop services that can meet future needs.

The involvement of local people is fundamental to our aim to improve services. Working together with people and including them in decision-making will help us to ensure that services are right for people, that they are what is wanted and needed and that they are being delivered in a way that makes them easy for people to use.

We recognise that if we do not involve people we run the risk of failing to achieve the benefits and desired outcomes of the Programme.

As part of our User Involvement Project we have developed:

  • A strategy that sets out our commitment to involving people in our projects. The strategy is available to download here - User Involvement Strategy
  • A range of internal policies and procedures to ensure consistency in our approach to involvement.
  • A stuctured process for engagement across the Workforce Forum projects.
  • Sustainable networks with existing groups, organisations and local authority involvement leads across the region.

What has happened so far?

The Excellence in Reablement Reference Group is working to develop a set of 10 principles for reablement services that reflect the wishes of people who use services. These principles will form an important part of the report and the roll-out of reablement services across the region. Find out more about the work of the group here.

As part of the Quality Standards Projects people were invited to attend Service User and Carer events and to feed in views via a special website established as part of the project. This project is also developing a process for quality reviews for use by local authorities that will include advice on involving service users and carers as experts by experience and suggestions for the involvement of Local Involvement Network expertise. Find out more about the Quality Standards Projects here.

Working with people who use services in order to fully understand their experiences is an integral part of the What Supports Independent Living Project. As stage two of the project gets underway we will be developing an intensive design-led engagement programme, working closely with people who use services in order to gain a real insight into what works and what improvements can be made. Find out more about the project here.

We are currently working with local partners to develop a People for Personalisation Network to work across the region.There are a number of ways people can get involved in the work of the RIEP and help us to improve regional social care services.

How can you get involved?

There are lots of projects taking place in each of the workstreams. You can find out more about these projects here.

Many of these projects have opportunities for involvement built in at key stages and we are always looking for people who have experience of using adult social care services, either directly or as a carer, to get involved.

If you would like to register your interest in getting involved please contact:

Zoe Campbell, User Involvement and Stakeholder Communications Project Manager
Email: zoe.campbell@northeastcouncils.gov.uk
Telephone: 07901 102 723

We will ask you to provide contact details and to give us an idea of what your interests are, for example if are you interested in work in a particular area of the region or if you are only interested in services for older people.

We will hold your details and let you know when opportunities for involvement arise.

The types of things you could be asked to do include:

  • Sitting on reference or focus groups,
  • Being part of a 'reader' panel, checking written documents.
  • Attending events.
  • Giving presentations.
  • Taking part in surveys and consultation.

There will also be the opportunity for other things, You can choose to get involved in as many or as few opportunities as you wish.

We can cover out of pocket expenses and will provide on-going support. Training needs will be considered.

If you work for a regional organisation or group and you would like to let your members or people who use your services know about these opportunities please get in touch using the contact details above.

 

Supporting People to get Involved


Download our policy for reimbursing out of pocket expenses for people who get involved.