A A A

Section 35 - Service User and Carer Involvement with the Course

PDF Icon

In the past the views of service users and carers of service users have been a secondary consideration when NHS services are planned, despite the fact that as the recipients of care they are in a good position to offer helpful advice to health professionals and managers. However well-intentioned a service, the acid test of its quality and acceptability is the experience of those who use it. Actively seeking out (and responding to) the views of service users makes considerable sense, not only because it is humane but also because services that are responsive, appropriate and acceptable to their clients are likely to be more efficient and effective.

This document sets out the ways in which the Course involves service users and carers in its organisation and in the teaching programme. In developing these links our guiding principle has been to avoid the tokenism which develops if service users are asked for their views without being fully apprised of the background to the issues on which their opinion is sought, or are asked to comment on matters which are not within their experience. For this reason our strategy has been to build a service user network, developing their roles as we gain experience with them, and they with us.

Service user and carer committee

The aim of the committee is to coordinate and develop the input of service users across all the domains of the course – to the curriculum, placement experience, selection and research. Its first meeting was in December 2007, and it meets twice a year.

Membership comprises the members of staff the Academic Director and a clinical tutor (who act as coordinators) and service users and carers recruited from local NHS trusts and voluntary organisations[1] as well as two trainee representatives. The aim is to build up a core membership of service users and carers who can represent as closely as possible the range of contexts and client groups with whom the course is preparing trainees to work. The meeting is co-Chaired by a member of staff and a service user.

In order to integrate the service user committee into the organisational structure of the Course action points arising from its meetings are raised in the Course Executive Committee by the Academic Director, placed on the agendas of the relevant course committees and reviewed in the Annual Course Review. If these proposals are seen as appropriate plans can be put in place to take them forward; if they are not taken forward then the reasons for this are fed-back to subsequent meetings of the service user committee. Traffic is two-way; from time to time course committees will place items on the agenda of the service user committee in order actively to seek their views regarding potential developments.

Service user input to teaching

Service users are involved in a number of teaching sessions– for example, half day sessions with carers of people with dementia, with individuals diagnosed with “personality disorder” and a session focused on developing service user involvement in future clinical roles.

Active oversight from the service user committee means that the input of service users is evolving. A review of the content and format of teaching led by service users the teaching has resulted in the identification of additional sessions where service user input would clearly be of great value (for example, a service user now co-facilitates an induction session on assessment, talking about her experience of being assessed and giving her tips based on these experiences for assessment). There has also been active consideration of ways in which service users can be involved in joint teaching with members of staff or clinicians.

Service user input to selection

There are two service-user representatives on the selection committee who input their views on all aspects of selection procedure and content (for example, on the interview questions, or any procedures (such as role-plays or video- vignettes) that the course is using or plans to use). The service user committee has generated a list of qualities that they would like to see in a clinical psychologist; this has been discussed in the selection committee and has informed selection since 2008.

Service user input to research

The service user committee identified the lack of an evidence base for the effects of service user involvement in teaching as a significant issue and something that may stand in the way of developing such activities further. This has led to the development of several related research projects co-supervised by Elizabeth Holford (a member of the committee), Katrina Scior and Josh Stott. This includes a doctoral research project looking at the impact of service user led teaching on clinician empathy and the views of trainee clinical psychologists and medical and psychology students. There are also undergraduate projects, one qualitative and one quantitative, evaluating the impact of service user involvement on trainee clinical psychologists.

Trainee consultation with service-users and carers while on placement

The course requires trainees to undertake consultations with service users and/or carers while on placement. The rationale for this is straightforward: although service user involvement with the course is important, the most effective way for trainees to learn from service users is to gain direct experience while on placement.

The consultation exercise is detailed in Section 10 of this handbook. Briefly, it gives trainees a direct experience of initiating contact with service users, aiming to learn from their experiences of the service and to make use of this learning through subsequent discussion with their clinical supervisors.

[1] Service users are paid for their time at the rate for external speakers (joint lecturer rate of £17.50 per hour).