It’s been a while since we’ve provided an update on progress of the National Guidance on Best Practice in Service User and Carer Engagement, but we want to assure you that work is still progressing with this. The Guidance is with Welsh Government who are carrying out their own consultation of the document and once this is completed everything can be signed off and start to be implemented by organisations.
Forum members have been working hard on developing the framework which will work alongside the Guidance and will enable organisations to assess how well they currently engage service users and carers in their services and also help them to identify what areas they need to improve on. Forum members will be available to assist organisations with using the framework and how best they can look at improving their services.
We have already received enquiries from health boards and other organisations who are keen to start using the guidance but it is important that we get this right from the start so it can be as effective as possible in helping to improve services. for people who access them.
Please be patient with us and once we have any updates on the progress of the work we will ensure we share it on this page and also on our Facebook page.
Background on the consultation process
The Wales Mental Health and Wellbeing Forum were commissioned by Welsh Government to lay out recommendations for best practice in co-production.
The guidance is based on experiences of service user and carer engagement within adult services. However, much of it would be equally applicable to children’s services.
It is written to be as relevant as possible to all, but may require adaptation to organisational circumstances, such as recruitment and HR policies in larger employers like the NHS and Local Authorities.
The document lays out the ambition to increase opportunities for mental health service users and carers in Wales to take part in engagement activities at a range of levels as appropriate to their preference, commitment, experience and capability (with support).
The ultimate aim is to see the co-production of all future mental health services, strategies and policies.
The consultation was open from 25 October 2021 to 31 January 2022. and the Forum was particularly keen to hear from people with lived experience and their friends, families and carers. The Forum aimed to capture the views of both individuals and organisations and networks. Formal responses were also welcomed from individual departments and subgroups.
A series of on online video call engagement events were run via Zoom, which were open to all, alongside a digital survey which was shared via the Forum’s networks and promoted widely on the Forum’s Facebook page and Practice Solutions’ social media channels.