Service Users and Carers

We have energetic Services Users and Carers Strategy Group, engaged in recruitment of students, delivery of teaching, assessment of learning and involvement in the development and management of all our health and social care education.

Our courses have been commissioned and approved by the professional bodies HCPC and NMC on the basis that there is involvement from Service Users and Carers and engagement with practice and provision of care.

We are constantly looking to for more people and groups to get involved in students' learning and the teaching and quality and governance of the school, there are many ways you can get involved.

It is important that as a student you will gain an understanding of the service user's experience, so that you are able to hold the needs of the individual at the centre of their care and can enable the service user to take a lead in the planning of the care they receive.

As a student you will have the opportunity to participate in engagement with users, carers and patients both in your formal studies at the university and in care settings.

The SUC Strategy Group meets regularly throughout the year, where we discuss how to put in place support that enables people with experience of services to be involved in developing and teaching our courses and contribute to the specialist health and social care research which takes place in the university. The group run events that aims to enable people who have used health and social care services to come together to explore how they can share their experiences to influence student learning.

We offer a range of opportunities for service users and carers to be involved in a number of ways in addition to teaching and assessment and research. These include representation on the SUC Strategy Group (which is involved with agreeing the standard for involvement across the faculty), attending course development and review meetings (which monitors the quality and standards of the delivery of the teaching, as well as the content and management of the courses) and consultation about wider health and social care issues which affect the people who use such services.

• Francis Report - The independent inquiry into care provided by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust: January 2005 - March 2009
• Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) launches new consultation on service user involvement in approved education and training programmes
• The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) response to the HCPC Consultation
• Guidelines for Support Workers - A new code of conduct has been published on the Skills for Care website