The Trust aims to make its services more patient focused by continuously improving the involvement of people in the planning, delivery and performance evaluation of services across the Trust. The large area it covers makes this even more important.
Patient communication and involvement is a key part of the Trust's business approach and culture. It has established a Patient Carer Engagement and Experience group (PCEEG) as an integral part of the governance structure. This group reports directly to the Quality and Performance sub-group of the Trust Board. Its responsibilities include ensuring continuous improvement of the patient experience, based on the feedback of patients, carers and relatives. Below the PCEEG is the Service Users and Carers Team where service users are directly involved in the design and planning of services.
The focus given by the Trust in including patients and other key stakeholders has led to the direct input and involvement of service users in the design and specification of the service. An example of this was a service redesign in 2008 where the project board included service user and carer representatives. The profile given to users' views is also evident in business cases, where in one example the feedback received during the consultation spans to six of the 31 pages in total and includes clear actions put in place to respond to the feedback.
Engagement and consultation are an integral part of the Trust's business processes. As part of a joint piece of work across all Newcastle Children's Services, the Trust achieved a national award for the involvement of 'seldom heard' groups in the development of children's services.