4Pi national involvement standards Developed by people with lived experience as part of the National Involvement Partnership (NIP) project, the 4Pi National Standards ensure effective co-production, thus improving experiences of services and support. Expand Developed by people with lived experience as part of the National Involvement Partnership (NIP) project, the 4Pi National Standards ensure effective co-production, thus really improving experiences of services and support. Visit our 4Pi hub to find out more about the history of 4Pi, view case studies & signatories, and sign up. 4Pi was the result of an NSUN hosted project, the National Involvement Partnership (NIP). The aim of the three year project was to strengthen and 'hard-wire' involvement in to the planning, delivery and evaluation of the services and support we use for our mental health and wellbeing needs.This framework established some basic principles to encourage people to think of involvement in terms of principles, purpose, presence, process and impact (4Pi).The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health describes 4Pi as a framework that ‘…will help ensure services and interventions are accessible and appropriate for people of all backgrounds, ages and experience’ and should support CQC inspection of ‘the quality of co-production in individual care planning, carer involvement and in partnership with communities to develop and improve mental health services.’
Service user involvement and co-production: the MARD project Documents by the Making A Real Difference (MARD) project. Expand Valuing involvementInvolvement policyGood practiceWorking with diverse groupsCommunicating with diverse groupsMaking events more inclusiveMinimum standards for working with diverse groupsCommissioning guidelinesLeadership trainingPayment and reimbursement guidanceBenefit conditionsCommunication strategyStaff induction packTraining resourcePayment and reimbursement templateMonitoring and evaluation toolsInvolvement passportFinal project reportHASCAS report on the MARD project
Service user involvement and co-production publications Publications by the members of the national survivor user network (NSUN), network for mental health, on user involvement and co-production Expand The case for co-production Charter and Guidelines for Partnership Working between Generic and Black and Minority Ethnic User/Survivor-led Organisations (TOOTS)Dancing to our own tunes by Jayasree KalathilMaking user involvement work by Peter BeresfordOn our own terms by Jan WallcraftStrategies for living: user led research into strategies for living with mental distressUser involvement - a brief literature review by Alison Faulkner Ethnic Inequalities in Mental Health: Promoting Lasting Positive Change - A Consultation with Black and Minority Ethnic Mental Health Service Users
Healthy lives Healthy Lives Project Improving physical health services for people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses Expand Healthy Lives Project Improving physical health services for people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses This is a user-led study which the Healthy London Partnership mental health programme commissioned NSUN to undertake. We asked: What physical healthcare experiences do people with serious (enduring) mental illness diagnoses have? What are their needs? What improvements in commissioning and in services are needed? You can download the full project description as well as the reports it produced: Project outline Healthy Lives Project Full Report 2017 Healthy Lives Project Executive Summary 2017
Unlocking Service User Involvement Practice in Forensic Settings NSUN commissioned WISH to conduct a review of involvement practice in forensic settings. Expand NSUN commissioned WISH to conduct a review of involvement practice in forensic settings. The resulting report has now been published. Many NHS and independent sector forensic units are failing to provide adequate and meaningful opportunities for service user involvement. This is the conclusion of a review carried out by WISH on behalf of NSUN and published in October. Just under half (74) of the 154 secure psychiatric hospitals identified in the survey returned the questionnaire. The responses showed low levels of user involvement and a widespread lack of robust structures that would give service users a meaningful say in how services are designed and delivered. In only 55% of NHS hospitals was there a member of staff with specific responsibility for service user involvement. The most common type of forum for service user involvement was the weekly community meeting (96%), followed by the patient’s council (47%). The issues dealt with were mainly day-to-day concerns, such as smoking, activities, food, and the ward environment. Many units lacked any mechanisms for feedback or to evaluate effectiveness of these forums. The report makes several recommendations – not least that all forensic hospitals should have a designated service user involvement lead post, and a senior manager with specific responsibility for user involvement. NSUN says forensic units also need clear guidelines on good practice and mechanisms for ensuring feedback and assessing the effectiveness of user involvement structures and forums. NSUN will use the survey findings to bid for funds for further research into embedding user involvement in forensic settings. An implementation plan will set out how the recommendations will be taken forward. To find out about WISH please visit https://www.womenatwish.org.uk/ Document by this project: Forensic report
Values-based commissioning NSUN seeks to improve service user involvement by supporting people with lived experience to gain proper input into the commissioning of services they use. Expand What is commissioning? Commissioning is the process of making sure that health and care services meet the needs of the population in each local area. Commissioners set priorities and organisations are selected to provide health services for local people. NSUN seeks to improve service user involvement by supporting people with lived experience to gain proper input into the commissioning of services they use. Values-based commissioning Traditional commissioning relies on scientific and research evidence to make decisions about what kinds of services should be prioritised and paid for. This can overlook the experiences and opinions of people who actually use the services, so what’s provided might not meet people’s needs. In ‘values-based’ commissioning, the views and experiences of people who use services have equal weight to the scientific and research evidence. “Values-based commissioning is a practice where everyone becomes equal partners. Service users, carers, clinicians and managers all become part of the commissioning model regarding mental health. There’s joint ownership and there’s no power issues really. So, services users and carers have more of a say in what goes on in the services they receive”. (Service user and carer) We know that this is far from the reality in many places at the moment. Many people aren’t happy with the mental health services in their area and some have had poor or even traumatic experiences. Values-based commissioning could be your chance to have a say and change services for the better. Telling commissioners how it feels to be on the receiving end of services and suggesting improvements could make a real difference to health services and the people who used them. Output: Influencing Mental Health Services, guide to Values Based Commissioning (NSUN in partnership with Mind). Values based commissioning report
Members survey evaluation reports Annual members survey analysis Expand Please download the reports from this page
Peer Support: Working with the VCSE Sector NSUN, AMHP and Mind have jointly produced a thought-piece outlining how voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) organisations can meaningfully contribute to the provision of peer support in mental health; and offer practical examples of the diverse ways in which this is already happening. Expand We argue that the knowledge, skills, experience and resources of the VCSE sector are valuable in establishing a network of peer support within and across local communities and outline the benefits of creating links and working in partnership between NHS peer support and local VCSE organisations, with some examples of good practice. As a thought piece, the document is designed to be thought-provoking and offer perspectives on critical issues regarding Peer Support Workers and the wider health and social care system. This work has been commissioned by Health Education England with the aim of making a helpful contribution to understanding, planning and expanding the presence of Peer Support Workers in health and care settings. You can view the report, written by Alison Faulkner, here.
Remote and Online Peer Support Resource Over the past months, collaborative working has shown that we have shared experiences of what works. This resource, for anyone involved in providing peer support, outlines best practice, tips, and information about remote support, including the move back to face to face. Expand Mind, Get Up Set Up, NSUN, Bipolar UK and Together for Mental Wellbeing came together to host forums over the pandemic with peer supporters, and the resource is an output from these sessions, capturing shared learning. In the resource, we consider: Values and principles of peer support Getting there: remote and online options Managing the online space Facilitation skills Safety and security Creative ways of connecting Wellbeing Returning to face-to-face and other options The information will be helpful to any groups and organisations who operate models of peer support. You can read the free resource, written by Alison Faulkner, here. You can download a Word document version of the resource here.