Patient Engagement
Patient, Public and Service User Representatives
Health and social care services on the Isle of Man are changing, and so is the way the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) engages with the Island’s community. The experiences of people accessing these services will play an increasingly key role in shaping their planning and delivery. To make that happen, the DHSC are including two members of the public as representatives who can provide an effective voice for communicating what really matters to our patients, services users, carers and others on the Island.
Through this initiative we will embed the principle of patient and service user engagement at the heart of all we do. The voluntary representative will provide feedback to the Department through Board level representation. This will ensure our commitment to promoting the active participation and involvement of the Island’s community in health and care matters is honoured in a tangible and meaningful way. This will help shape the ongoing conversation within DHSC about how the health and care system can be continuously improved for all.
The Role of Patient Public and Service User
The representative role carries a clearly defined responsibility and involves a time commitment in the region of two unpaid days each month and will:
- represent the views of the people to the DHSC and actively participate and contribute to its work.
- engage effectively with local patient/service user/carer groups and the
- wider community to ensure that the public’s voice is heard, communicated and acted upon.
- proactively seek feedback from under-represented groups.
- Participate as required in patient/service user and public engagement activities held by or connected with DHSC (such as conversation events.
- Always act ethically with regard to potential conflicts of interest, and to respect and observe the values and behaviours of DHSC.