Appendix B: Explanation of groups

Patient Consultative Committee and Carer Consultative Committee

These are bi monthly meetings across the county where services users and carers meet to provide feedback on their experiences, receive updates of developments within the Trust and identify areas for improvement. A member of the executive team or senior leader within the Trust attends each of these meetings.

Co-production Network

This network comprises service users, carers, KMPT staff and representatives of outside MH agencies. It meets quarterly and provides a forum to discuss and direct co production within KMPT. Its meetings comprise feedback from co productive work underway and discusses new opportunities for co-production in KMPT.

Experts by Experience Research group

This group supports the inclusion of service users in research within the Trust. It has conducted a number of development and evaluation projects as well as providing consultancy around Trust research and some research projects outside of the Trust. Members of this group are service user reps in the Trusts R&D committee and the Clinical Audit and Service Evaluation Committee.

Service user and Carer Involvement

There are a number of service users and carers who participate in various governance and service development activities across the Trust to provide lived experience perspectives into our plans. The Trust has a Payment policy that supports these activities and representatives can be reimbursed or paid as a volunteer, a contributor of a co-producer dependant on the activity and the individual representative’s preference for engagement.

Dementia Engagement

The Trust has developed opportunities for people with dementia to input into service development and also providing peer support. There are dementia groups which are engaged as a source of consultation for staff developing services and also some identified Dementia Envoys who have supported service development beyond KMPT and even internationally.

Peer support workers

KMPT employs 36 peer support workers currently and has an ambition to increase this to 100 in the coming period. As well as providing valuable peer support to clients within service peer support workers have also helped other Trust staff better understand service user perspectives and have at times participated in wider service development activities.

Lived Experience Advisor

KMPT benefit from the support of one part time staff member with experience of using services who provides consultancy to the Trusts in various service development activities and particularly supported the inclusion of service user perspectives within training.

Triangle of Care

KMPT is a member of this national initiative to improve engagement with carers across its services. We have been accredited and achieve a 2 star rating for our work which includes engaging carers in training for staff and monitoring how well we engage with carers within the delivery of our services.

Recovery College

A pilot Recovery College has been established in Thanet working out of the Adult Education Centre in Margate. In collaboration with partner organisations we would like to see the Recovery College offering courses across the county over the next years. Recovery colleges support the refocus of mental health care toward a more recovery focussed and person centred approach through providing psycho educational courses which are all co facilitated by someone who has used services, an Expert By Experience alongside an Expert by training, a qualified mental health professional.