What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to the theme of 'How can improvement be used to reduce delays accessing health and care services'?

Every health and social care organisation manages a list of people with lived experience to support their patient and public involvement requirements.  People with lived experience are sharing their perspectives and experiences and contribution multiple times to multiple organisations – physical health, mental health, social services and third sector (voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise).

Programme/Project managers are often unsure how best to involve lived experience.

In the current climate, uncertainty is a key stress factor when experiencing a health challenge and there are many factors that can contribute to health and wellbeing including the social determinants of health and health inequity.

Waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment need to be reduced.  Long waiting lists impact on a person’s health and wellbeing and potential for recovery.  Waiting well has been recognised as an important concept and these interventions are beneficial to support recovery before and after diagnosis and treatment.

What does your project aim to achieve?

It is important that an integrated approach is taken to obtaining diverse lived experience perspectives to design and evaluate integrated and personalised care.  It is important  that individuals are supported in a safe and consistent way when providing their perspectives.

This project will engage with a number of health and care providers to create a network of lived experience to support co-production of new models of care/pathways that provide health equity through integrated personalised care.

By providing programme/project managers (commissioners) with access to a diverse population of service users/patients/carers (lived experience) with understanding of co-production principles and experience of contributing within a collaborative environment, we can deliver the outcomes needed through integrated services.

Involving lived experience and their context of holistic/personalised care and end-to-end pathways when defining outcomes will improve the effectiveness of services and their successful delivery.

How will the project be delivered?

This project will connect health and service commissioners and providers and collect the various methods of conducting patient and public involvement and supporting people with lived experience.

Through co-production meetings with diverse stakeholders the East of England Citizens’ Senate will facilitate the creation of agreed co-production principles and support of lived experience engaged in patient and public involvement.

East of England Citizens’ Senate will support Integrated Care Systems across the region to implement the agreed co-production principles through training and facilitation and strengthening networks.

How is your project going to share learning?

East of England Citizens’ Senate will promote the findings and successes of the project through the Academic Health Science Network, Social Care Institute for Excellence, Association of Directors for Adult Care Services.