Service User Involvement Strategy

Service User involvement in health care is widely supported at a national level both through the NHS plan and the Department of Health’s Patient and Public Involvement agenda. The relevance of service user involvement within the education of health professionals is therefore clear and explicit.  

The plan for greater service user involvement within SHHS has been developed by members of the Service User Reference Group (SURG) and the Service User Involvement Steering Group (SUISG).

The selected approaches have been shaped by previous research which has shown that past service user involvement in nurse education has had positive effects on student outcomes (Rush 2008, Khoo et al 2004,Wood and Wilson Barnett 1999 . Thus service users are valued as a beneficial resource that can provide unique expertise and knowledge which complements the professional and scientific knowledge provided within existing educational curricula.  

Scope of Service User Involvement

Service User Involvement is encouraged across a range of areas including:-  

  • Contribution to classroom based discussion or activities

  • Recruitment and selection of students

  • Practice and simulated learning activities

  • Assessment of learning

  • Curriculum design and delivery

  • Development of staff

  • Co-ordination and implementation of service user involvement strategy.  

If you wish to become involved in any of the activities mentioned above then please complete our service user enrolment form and post or email to the address on the form.

What our students have said about Service User Involvement

Within the School students and academics alike have noted the importance and significance of Service User Involvement. Click here to find out more about some of our student's thoughts.

Accessing Service Users  

A database of service users who are willing to be involved across a range of educational activities within SHHS  can be accessed by academic and administrative staff to source information about those service users who are best placed to support specific educational activities.  

Please note: If you are a member of staff interested in accessing the Service User database, it can be found in the HHS Staff Intranet under Central Resources.

Guidance for staff and service users

A set of guidance notes for use both by academic staff and service users have been developed by the Service User Reference Group to support involvement activities. These have been designed specifically to outline the necessary preparation which needs to be undertaken prior to any involvement activities.    

Events  

A Service User event was held in June 2010. Over 40 people attended to discuss how services users and carers could contribute to the work of the School. The event was evaluated positively by visitors and staff alike.

References

Khoo R, McVicar A, Brandon D ( 2004) Service user involvement in postgraduate mental health education. Does it benefit practice? Journal of Mental Health. 13 ( 5) pp 481-49 Rush B ( 2008) Mental Health Service user involvement in  nurse education: a catalyst for transformative learning. Journal of Mental Health. 17 ( 5) 531-542 Wood J , Wilson Barnett J ( 1999) The influence of user involvement on the learning of mental health nursing students. NT Research . 4 ( 4) 257- 270.