User participation

Contains a general introduction to the topic and drawing on a range of current initiatives, pointers towards good practice in relation to each of the components of effective involvement. A range of evaluation tools are offered which may be useful in charting progress and identifying the next steps to be taken.

Commissioning mental health is a complex area and expertise is varied. This article explains 'Values based' commissioning, which aims to put users' views at the heart of reshaping services. Values based commissioning aims to take a fresh look at what kind of services should be commissioned and why, with service users and carers working jointly with commissioners to lead commissioning decisions.

User and carer participation in health care is central to care planning and delivery. From an educational perspective, their input is beneficial in terms of enhancing the quality of the education process. The study reported in this paper explored the experiences of user and carer participation in nurse education from the perspective of the key stakeholders involved in the process. By pinpointing key issues of concern for participants, the study aims to help inform the ongoing development of practice in this area.

The term leadership has been often applicable within the work domain, where development programmes are aimed at managers and lead organisations. However the government has recognised that changes in public services require the collaboration of many stakeholders working together in partnership and has placed at the core of its policies the need to include users and carers.

Requirements set out for the social work degree and post‐qualifying framework specify the involvement of service users and carers on a number of levels. Research indicates that service user and carer involvement can benefit students, professionals and service users and carers themselves. To keep up with demands placed on service users and carers by higher education institutions and other social work bodies, the issue of capacity needs to be addressed.

The tasks provided by young carers, the support - or lack of it - on which they can draw and the effects the duties can have on their education.

It is estimated that carers carry out the equivalent of 57bn of caring a year. So, health and social services need to work together to support carers in their valuable, and often unrecognised, work.

The National Institute for Mental Health England (NIMHE) was established in 2002, and from the beginning had a commitment to put people who use services at the centre of their work, and involve service users and carers in the planning and delivery of work. In 2004 the NIMHE executive team conduced a review of service users and carer involvement at all levels within NIMHE, with the aim of identifying what action was needed to develop a more co-ordinated and strategic approach. This article provides a brief overview of the review, its key findings and recommendations.

The imperative for participation in social work education has led to consideration of the ways in which service users’ and carers’ voices can best be heard by students. At Glyndŵr University, this debate has resulted in the development of a service user and carer-led module which will introduce students to a variety of creative approaches as a way of telling narratives of experience. In preparation for the module, a pilot project was run to assess the particular benefits of using animation for this purpose.

This paper is based on a presentation delivered by the Special Interest Group for Education and Training (SIGET) at the annual Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association (CPHVA) conference. Service user and carer involvement in all aspects of health care delivery, including the educational process, is a key element of the government's modernisation programme. This paper considers the policy context that requires nurse educationalists to seek the views of service users and carers in planning quality healthcare education programmes.

Mike Howorth, Cathy Riley, Gillian Drummond and John Keady introduce a pioneering scheme in which the NHS employs a person with dementia to lead a support and consultative network for people with dementia and carers.