Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust to launch user forum to drive improvements to mental health services

Users, carers and families could soon help drive improvements to mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) will set up a Service User and Carer Council (SUCC), a forum seeking action across the entire trust.

It will involve representatives with lived experience of accessing services or those who support others who use mental health services.

Lucy North, the project’s lead, said its mission was to ensure service users and carers were central to, and engaged with, activities at the trust.

They will be involved in discussions around quality, experience, monitoring and improvement, she said.

The council is also set to tie in with NSFT’s new future leadership strategy, which aims to improve quality, safety and the experience of users, alongside the development of councils to operate as an advisory and action forum.

Lucy said: “We would really like to hear what people think the council's key priorities and goals should be, and how best we can support those in joining the council as a member.

Chief nurse Anthony Deery said it was vital people were involved in driving improvements.

He said: “We need to make sure that theirs is the voice we hear when we work towards making NSFT a safer, kinder and better organisation.

“They are the experts in their own health and they are the people we need to listen to.”

Anyone who wishes to sign up to the scheme can do so here.

Seven positions are open to anyone who has used, or supported someone, receiving mental health care at the trust within the past five years.

Applications close at 11.59pm on August 11.