Public involvement

It has been recognised at local and national level that the work of health and caring services is enhanced by involving people who have used or are using services and their family carers. People who use services and their family carers can share their expertise and knowledge by getting involved in a number of different ways.

Some of these are:

• attending meetings or joining groups;
• giving feedback on proposed changes to services or on draft policies;
• helping us to recruit staff;
• training staff.

There are opportunities to become involved in the work of Adult Care and Community Services in lots of different ways. We ask people to help us with planning services, helping teams to work together better, recruiting and training staff for example. We provide training for people who want to help us improve the way we plan and deliver services and we offer payment and reimbursement of expenses.

If you would like to know more, please contact the Public Involvement Officer. Alternatively, fill in this form and we will contact you about getting involved.

There are policies, guidance and information for customers, carers and professionals about this area of work:

	Nothing about you, without you. (PDF, 105Kb) This policy was written by the Public Involvement Group, which is made up of customers and carers. It was updated and revised in October 2007.
	Payments to service users and family carers (PDF, 44Kb)
	Guidance for service user involvement in the recruitment process (PDF, 63KB)
	Public Involvement Group - terms of reference (PDF, 24Kb)

LINks - Local Involvement Networks

In April 2008, the Government replaced Patient Forums with Local Involvement Networks (LINks). Find out more.