The Service User's Voice??

[Quinonostante]

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/mental-health-whistleblowing-patterns-uk-amongst-nhs-nurses-reflect-users-experiences-we-think-0

A shockingly unsurprising report.....

 

[nickh]

Many thanks for this quino - naturally it interested me greatly as I am involved with all the bodies mentioned. I am going to put the link on the Birmingham Forum as well. I think it may be a little unfair as I know some of the users involved with User Voice and they are not people who would be easily hoodwinked. However there is general agreement about the desirability of having an independent user forum - the problem is resources and organisation.

Again it would be very interesting to hear of people's experience of User Voice forums in other parts of the country whether independent or tied to their MHT's.

Nick.

 

[Michael]

Great you have 'wetted' my appetite for more information -
1/ what happens next owt or nowt?
2/ have we not a voice within the forum as it is country wide (internationally) and will give a snapshot look at what is considered to be the current situation?
3/ Another word of caution though, although my gut feeling is to accept the survey as it would agree with my feelings, I would want to know a few of the parameters to which the survey was set ie location(s), timescale, level of person surveyed, there will be more but without the background information presented I have learnt through bitter experience never to trust surveys without it.

Michael

 

[nickh]

Great you have 'wetted' my appetite for more information -
1/ what happens next owt or nowt?
2/ have we not a voice within the forum as it is country wide (internationally) and will give a snapshot look at what is considered to be the current situation?
3/ Another word of caution though, although my gut feeling is to accept the survey as it would agree with my feelings, I would want to know a few of the parameters to which the survey was set ie location(s), timescale, level of person surveyed, there will be more but without the background information presented I have learnt through bitter experience never to trust surveys without it.

Michael

I'm not quite sure what you mean Michael? As far as the local situation in Bimringham is concerned obviously that is of interest to those, like me, who live in the area. But when you say a 'voice within the forum' do you mean this forum? I certainly hope so as everyone has a voice here. And as I said I hope people will post their own experiences. It is one of our hopes that this Forum can be a meeting place for people who are campaigning for SUI in their own areas.

But I may have got entirely the wrong end of the stick - that is more than possible .

Nick.

 

[Michael]

It seems to be obvious within the survey that there is something wrong, and I wonder who will be doing what to instigate change?
I would also think that it was the same country wide but this would only come to the fore if people had an independant voice.
I get the impression that as a group we are very disjointed, whilst that is the case the clarity we need/require will not be forthcoming.
The particular section that said some where making carreers out of the involvement rings warning bells in my ears, my gut feeling is not good but I would really have to know more detail (like the detail of the survey)

I just get a very bad feeling over this.

Michael

 

[nickh]

It seems to be obvious within the survey that there is something wrong, and I wonder who will be doing what to instigate change?
I would also think that it was the same country wide but this would only come to the fore if people had an independent voice.
I get the impression that as a group we are very disjointed, whilst that is the case the clarity we need/require will not be forthcoming.
The particular section that said some where making careers out of the involvement rings warning bells in my ears, my gut feeling is not good but I would really have to know more detail (like the detail of the survey)

I just get a very bad feeling over this.

Michael

Thanks Michael. I think it would be a bit ambitious for us to say that we are in any position to do anything about something like this on a national, or even local basis, at the moment. This forum is very much in its infancy and is still small - at the moment I think sharing information and developing our understanding ( and making the Forum bigger ) is our best target.

As far as the bit about careers out of involvement is concerned I totally share your concerns though. This was one of the things which alarmed me about the applications for the Moving People posts which I raised on another thread a month or so ago. There is a lot more stuff on that blog (the one the article Quino quoted came from - it is at http://birminghamuserwatch.blogspot.com/) - it is centred on Birmingham but also has national stuff, about this. I guess it is probably a bit over-stated but there is some worrying stuff there. And we have talked about this here in the thread on Payments for Service Users.

Nick.

 

[Quinonostante]

In the Exeter area I am aware of a SU group where they have someone who is recommended as 'the person to contact' if you have a problem with a serivce, however several people have recently discovered that she is not impartial.

(One example I can give is of several people complaining to her about one Exeter based day service. Her response was to contact the day service and tell them who was complaining and about what. This lead to one of the people being too afraid to return to the service and one ostracised.)

 

[nickh]

Well that is - obviously - disgraceful . Is the SU group a part of the Mental Health Trust/Authority?

Nick.

 

[Quinonostante]

Well that is - obviously - disgraceful . Is the SU group a part of the Mental Health Trust/Authority?

Nick.

It's operated from CVS.

 

[nickh]

CVS? (sorry probably being thick!)

Nick.

 

[Michael]

CVS= Community Volunteer Service
It is a place which co-ordinates volunteers to those who need them
Works well in East Lancashire

Michael

 

[nickh]

Thanks Michael - I googled to find out more and got Community Service Volunteers - is this the same thing?

Nick.

 

[Michael]

Its known as the CVS here in East Lancashire, it sounds very similiar so you never know in this day and age someone might have said it needed a new name now (or is that me just being synical?)

Michael

 

[nickh]

Nope I googled again and they are different things .

CVS is Council for Voluntary Service and there are different ones all over the country.

Thanks again Michael.

Nick.

 

[yakuza]

I did the same thing nickh and it seems it is different here in scotland too