Community Voices - background information
What is it?
Community Voices is our new name for a patient and carer representative. Patient and carer representatives take many forms; some attend NHS meetings while others reply to surveys sent out by their local hospitals. Being a community voice is about getting involved in how your local stroke services are organised.
Integral to the project have been the consultative group of already engaged community voices. Reading their stories may give you a better idea of what exactly a community voice is and what they do.
You can read their stories here.
Why?
Patient and carer involvement around England is patchy. We want to ensure that new methods are used to recruit different types of people with different experiences of stroke care and for those people to be properly supported.
What will the main activities be?
This project will find out what patient or carer representatives are doing, what their experiences are like and offer as much support as possible. We first carried out a survey of existing and potential patient and carer representatives to look at where gaps are and what works well.
Anything else?
The project aims to break down certain myths. We want to demonstrate that this kind of work can be fulfilling, empowering and give influence over important decisions. It can also be undertaken by younger stroke survivors or their carers and by those with aphasia if the NHS body is flexible about how it consults.
How can I get involved?
Please go to our online form to become a community voice for stroke.
If you want more information on the project please email the Campaigns Team.
