Involving services users and carers

Steering Group

Our Steering Group includes representatives with experience of living with dementia, or providing care for a person with dementia. The Steering Group advises us on all aspects of the project.

Feedback from service user review panels

People with dementia participate in Service User Review Panels organised by the Alzheimer’s Society. In 2017 four panels agreed to review the findings of Round 3 of the audit and let us know that they thought. Their feedback led us to make some improvements to the audit tools used in Round 4.

We will be carrying out similar panels in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Society in 2020 in order to discuss the results of our standards consultation as well as people's experiences of filling out surveys about hospital care. More information about this will be available soon on our Round 5 page.

Representatives with experiences of caring for someone who has dementia sat on the Steering Group which advised on all aspects of the audit. 

Carer questionnaire

Development of the carer questionnaire was informed by a panel of carers and patients. Carers were involved in testing the questionnaire and returned comments on content and format. In round four of the audit, we received a total of 4736 carer questionnaires from people who look after a family member/friend/partner with dementia in England and Wales.

Working with John's Campaign

John’s Campaign is a partner organisation and is represented on our Steering Group. They advocate for the removal of all restrictions on family carers supporting their relatives in hospital.

"John's Campaign was founded in November 2014 by Nicci Gerrard and Julia Jones. Behind its simple statement of purpose lies the belief that carers should not just be allowed but should be welcomed, and that a collaboration between the patients and all connected with them is crucial to their health and their wellbeing."

Read more to receive further information regarding a career in psychiatry