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Bedfordshire Community Health Services People Participation

Bedfordshire Community Health Services People Participation

People Participation is an opportunity for service users and carers to become involved in many aspects of East London Foundation Trust’s (ELFT) work. ELFT are the provider for Bedfordshire Community Health Services (BCHS).

You will then be able to access a range of opportunities where you can meet like-minded individuals, have your voice be heard and see how your opinion and lived experiences can make a difference.

Many individuals involved in People Participation are working on their own skills and changes in health and/or circumstances.

People Particpation can help encourage positive change and development within services, helping them to improve and ensure everyone receives the best care.

It can make you feel positive and content knowing you are helping others and that your contribution could be life changing to someone else accessing either the same or a different ELFT service within your community.

People Participation Logo (a group of people in a semi-circle holding hands)

Who can get involved?

People Participation is for:
 

  • Any service user who is currently accessing East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) services.
  • Any carer who is supporting someone who is currently accessing ELFT services. 
  • If you have been discharged from an ELFT service while involved in People Participation, you can continue to access People Participation for a further 6-12 months. Your People Participation Lead will disuss an individual plan with you.
  • When it comes to stepping back from People Participation, your People Participation Lead will discuss your next steps with you.

We have people from all different backgrounds getting involved in People Participation. We encourage inclusivity, promote diversity and are committed to tackling stigma. No prior specific qualifications or experiences are needed.

We will not share any information that you give us without discussing this with you first and getting consent. The only exception to this is if we consider that your life or the wellbeing of someone else could be at risk.

We are not a clinical, counselling or crisis service. If you are feeling unsafe, distressed, or worried about your mental health, call 111, then select option 2 (mental health support). 
For queries regarding Bedfordshire Community Health Services, please contact the Single Point of Access (SPoA) service: 0345 602 4064 or singlepoint.ofcontact@nhs.net

Bedfordshire Community Health Services (BCHS) is one of several Directorates within ELFT.

They are responsible for delivering a range of Community physical health services within Bedfordshire. In addition, some services are also delivered in Luton and Milton Keynes.

Services include:

  • Adult Speech and Language Therapy
  • Clinical Health Psychology - Cancer and Palliative Care
  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Service
  • Community Beds
  • Community Nursing Service
  • Community Pharmacy Team
  • Community Therapy Service (Discharge planners, Discharge to Assess, Intermediate Care, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy)
  • Continence
  • Epilepsy Service
  • Heart Failure Service
  • Multiple Sclerosis Service
  • Parkinson's Disease Service
  • Post-COVID Fatigue Service
  • Phlebotomy
  • Podiatry
  • Rapid Response Service (Community Matrons, Complex Care, Unplanned Night Service, Virtual Wards)
  • Rare Neurological Disorders Service
  • Specialist Palliative Care
  • Tissue Viability Nurses
  • Warfarin Service
  • Wheelchair Service

Speak to your People Participation Lead (PPL) to find out more about the different ways you can get involved. Your PPL will always aim to support you in any activity you choose to get involved in.

You can do as much or as little as you wish (and can).

These are some of the current involvement opportunities:

  • Working Together Group:

This group consists of actively involved carers and service users. It is a chance to meet up as a whole and share experiences, ideas and work together on service improvement projects.

  • Focus Groups:

A focus group will usually consist of a small number of service users/carers who volunteer to give their views on a given topic to assist in service development and collect data.

  • Reviewing Service Literature:

Reviewing documents such as service leaflets, Trust policies, and making sure website content is relevant and helpful to service users and carers, and easy to access.

  • Quality Improvement (QI):

Improvement project starts with a simple idea, which grows to make a positive impact on the service directly, this includes staff, service users and carers working in collaboration. Training is provided in the QI methodology.

  • Interview Panels:

Alongside recruiting managers, a service user or carer is on the panel for every prospective member of staff being interviewed.

  • Auditing:

These include Care Quality Commission (CQC) readiness programme, Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) and Service User Led Accreditation Assessments.

  • Staff Training:

Service users and carers help design and deliver training for all staff; this includes but is not limited to sharing our experiences at staff inductions, delivering training on staff development programmes and co-delivering training to newly qualified and student nurses.

  • Other Opportunities:

There are also opportunities to get involved in other areas of People Participation - for example: digital, corporate, estates and sustainability groups.

Please contact us by emailing elft.peopleparticipation@nhs.net, and we will connect you with a People Participation Lead. When getting in contact, do please let us know which service is supporting you, or your loved one.

"While a lot of people will have seen our quarterly BCHS Newsletter many haven’t and this website gives us the opportunity to expand our readership. The Newsletter is produced by a core team of 5 or 6 members of the People Participation team on an entirely voluntary basis. We hold a number of online meetings through each quarter, the aim being to produce a 20 or 24-page magazine that has a mix of both factual and lifestyle articles with some entertainment thrown in.

I have been involved for a couple of years now, it’s good fun, and I would encourage anybody to join in, be it in the planning and design stage or perhaps contributing with an article. I have always been a bit of a frustrated writer, so the chance to do some writing was just too good to miss.

Please take the time to browse through our back issues on the links below, and all future issues will also be available when they are published. If you want to join in then please don’t hesitate to contact: elft.peopleparticipation@nhs.net ....You won’t regret it." 
Peter                                                                          

Contact us

You can get in touch with the People Participation Team by email at elft.peopleparticipation@nhs.net.

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People Participation

People Participation is about helping our service users and their carers to have a say in how we run the Trust. But more than that, it is also about working together so that we can offer a better service for all.