Wandsworth London Borough Council Supporting People Programme Inspection
Rating: Good service | Excellent prospects for improvement
Wandsworth has a strong and innovative approach to service user involvement through the use of 'Service User Evaluators'. These are service users who volunteer to be trained (and paid) to lead on interviews with service user during reviews of services similar to their own. They participate in full service reviews, including management, and support staff interviews. The evaluators also carry out mystery shopping and take part in tendering processes, including making site visits and sitting on tender panels.
There are currently 19 Service User Evaluators. Their experience enables them to identify strengths and weaknesses within a scheme, as well as encouraging service users to openly disclose their experiences of the service. The evaluators have been well supported by the Supporting People team, meet regularly, are treated as equal members of review teams and are kept informed of the outcome of service reviews. The service users themselves have found that they have benefited from their roles as evaluators, including increased levels of confidence.