Portsmouth Integrated Commissioning Unit’s Guide to

Service User and Carer Involvement in the Commissioning

of Social Care & Health Services

Improving health services…

Introduction • The core function of any Commissioning Team

is to ensure the delivery of services that meets identified needs of local people, that they want and find useful

• Involving service users and carers in the commissioning process is fundamental in achieving this

• Involvement should be central to the design, procurement and monitoring of services

Involvement in Commissioning in

Portsmouth• Involvement is not a new concept and has

always been part of commissioning, this presentation aims to demonstrate that a real commitment to involvement is crucial to the development of the services we are responsible for providing

Through consultation with service users and carers we can find out exactly what elements of a service are important to them and what the gaps are

Look at other models and ask for service user feedback on them. If a service elsewhere is working, why? What do service users like about that particular model and what is not working.

Ask the opinions of service users and carers in the tender process. Experience of using services is invaluable and can highlight areas or issues that may otherwise be missed

Involvement and engagement needs be continuous to ensure our services are meeting the needs of the population

The Charter: Our Commitment to you

EmpowermentIn view of our understanding that service-user empowerment is an on-going

journey, we have identified the following essential elements which will influence

and impact upon all of our future work:

Development of our user charter

Working with service-users, we will continue to refine our charter through regular consultation, communication, involvement and monitoring.

Service-user consultancy

We will work with service-users to develop a framework which will enable

individuals to market their own expertise within the organisation and to external

stakeholders.

Raising the voice of service-users

By working with service-users and carers, we will continue to find ways that will

strengthen the “user voice” within the organisation and beyond.

How have we involved people so far? • Services users and carers have identified and designed research methods to enable

them to carry out peer led reviews on the provision of a number of community services.

• Commissioners and service users have worked together to identify “best practice” models of services from other areas that could be replicated in Portsmouth.

• Service Users are involved in the tender process, working alongside commissioners in evaluating and scoring prospective providers.

• We’ve designed a set of scenarios loosely based around feedback received from service users, that we asked potential providers use to demonstrate how they would support somebody with a particular set of needs. The answers providers were then anonymously marked by a group of service users, their scores fed back to the contract lead and added into the overall scores given by the original interview panel. This was a successful way of involving service users who did not want to be present at the actual interviews.

Outcomes from Recent Consultations• Dementia Services

The Integrated Commissioning Unit have worked with statutory and community stakeholders on a revised Dementia Action Plan for 13/14. Part of this plan is to progress the development of a one year pilot Dementia Café Service which will be available to people with dementia and their carers from November. The service will be managed and run by the Alzheimer's Society and there will be one two-hour café session held in the north and one in the south of the city each week.

The café will be an information and social hub for anyone affected by dementia, giving people the information and tools to live well with dementia while meeting in a relaxed environment. There will also be carer education sessions and a quarterly dementia network.

• For homelessness services

The consultation resulted in large changes to the type and nature of services available - for example smaller services were commissioned with more focus and resource capacity for substance misuse, more emphasis on independence rather than dependence and clearer support hours. Building works were also undertaken on Mill House to improve the environment and facilitate the new service design.

• Mental Health Supported Living services

A mixture of group meetings and individual interviews has been carried out with service users at all of the individual Mental Health supported living services. Some issues have been highlighted and a remodelling of the current pathway of support and specification is required as expected. Providers will be asked to comment on changes once internal stakeholders have agreed proposals.

Current & Future Involvement Opportunities

• Adult Mental Health Crisis Service Review

• Child & Adolescent Mental Health Pathway Review

• Sexual Health & Smoking Cessation service review

Get Involved!

If you would like to get involved in any future consultations, please contact

James Gagliardini, Service User Involvement Officer on 023 9268 8623