SCAS officially launched a Patient Panel with their first inaugural meeting on 21 February 2024.
The Patient Panel members currently consist of:
- 1 x Patient Panel (Influence) Chair
- 1 x Learning Disability Sub Group Chair (Influence)
- 5 x Learning Disability Sub Group Supporter (Co-produce)
- 1 x Mental Health Sub Group Chair (Influence)
- 1 x Mental Health Sub Group Supporters (Co-produce)
The 3 Influence members were also invited to visit our Headquarters to get to know the services in more depth. This was so that they could gain an understanding of SCAS pressures, remit and restraints. This will ensure the feedback and ideas they provide are meaningful and things that SCAS can implement. During these visits, local Governors were able to meet the Patient Panel Influence Chair and the Mental Health Sub Group Chair to learn about the Governor roles.
The first introductory Patient Panel meeting was held on 21 February 2024. The meeting was chaired by the Patient Panel (Influence) Chair. All Patient Panel members were invited to attend this meeting. The Panel were able to meet SCAS staff and a background of SCAS and SCAS Charity was provided.
A core part of this meeting was to find and agree ideas for Patient Panel future discussions and involvement. Members shared their ideas on topics they felt needed further improvement.
The ideas were summarised as:
- Passport use and Ambulance care plans – SCAS does have care plans, but the Patient Panel can review what this looks like in the future and if this is still fit for purpose.
- Co-produced training – SCAS has had focus groups for some training but there is room for improving education.
- End of Life care
- Easy read documents and accessibility of documents for Learning Disability patients
- Barriers to access 111 and 999
The topics provided by the members, will be the focus of the Patient Panel meetings over the next quarter.
In order for the Learning Disability members to be able to participate, all documents for the Patient Panel have been made accessible and in an Easy Read format.
We have now held 2 mental health subgroup meetings (April and May) and one learning disability meeting (April – May was cancelled due to lack of availability of patient panel members).
The meetings have been productive in hearing patients experiences and how these experiences can assist SCAS in influencing change within the services delivered.
Some members of the mental health subgroup will be observing the simulation mental health training offered to staff to see if there is room for improvement based on lived experiences of those with mental health.
The next meetings for the Patient Panel mental health subgroup and the learning disability are both scheduled for June.
One of the learnings identified from the April mental health subgroup meeting was around the accessibility of the NEPTS Patient (booking) Portal. A live run-through will be carried out in the June meeting to review accessibility and note changes which need to be implemented.
The Consult level of membership was launched on 21st May 2024 where volunteers provide feedback on documents, policies, and complete surveys as and when they are available. We have had 4 volunteers join at this level of involvement.
We are still actively recruiting to the Patient Panel with applications still being received.
If you are interested in observing a future patient panel meeting, please email patientengagement@scas.nhs.uk to express your interest.