Two patient involvement initiatives at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) have achieved national recognition as finalists in the annual Patient Experience Network (PEN) Awards 2021.
LPT’s Recovery and Collaborative Care Planning Cafes have been shortlisted in the ‘Strengthening the Foundation’ award category and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Workbook has made the ‘Support for Caregivers’ award category.
The Recovery Cafes are a shared space for patients, carers, health professionals and partners to come together to have collaborative conversations around care planning and recovery. They were developed alongside patients who share their lived experience of recovery and why it matters to them. LPT also uses the supportive groups to recruit participants to engage in other projects, such as the co-production of collaborative care planning guidance and the development of a five-week Recovery College course open to both staff and patients. Some service users are also involved in a quality improvement project within the Trust’s mental health services.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Workbook was co-produced in response to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impact of lockdown on the mental health and wellbeing of LPT’s service users. The workbook provides clear support, advice and activities for carers, friends, family members, LPT service users and the public. It can be downloaded in four different languages from LPT’s website: https://www.leicspart.nhs.uk/involving-you/involving-you/
Alison Kirk, head of patient experience and involvement at LPT, said: “Both of these two fantastic initiatives demonstrate how, through working in a co-productive way with our service users and carers, we can jointly create tools and support which can make a real difference.
“The successful element of both initiatives is partnership, bringing lived experience alongside quality improvement to deliver on what really matters to service users and carers. Thank you to all our wonderful service users and carers for working alongside us.”
Mark Farmer, chair of LPT’s People Council, said: “I am thrilled that LPT’s commitment to co-production with patients and carers is being recognised. The huge amount of support by provided the Trust’s engagement and involvement team and other staff across LPT means that patients and carers are really beginning to shape the delivery of services. The two projects shortlisted showcase how LPT has worked together to provide services which benefit patients and carers across LLR. They have been particularly important services during the pandemic and have been a real help to many.”
An 80+ panel of experienced judges took part in the shortlisting process, and the winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony in September 2021.
To find out more about LPT’s patient involvement activities head to:
https://www.leicspart.nhs.uk/involving-you/
To find out more about the Patient Experience Network (PEN) awards head to: https://patientexperiencenetwork.org/awards/