This year we welcomed more than 100 Lived Experience Ambassadors to join us in helping to co-design the services we offer.
They have a vital role in supporting us to deliver care that best meets the needs of our patients.
Lived Experience Ambassador Jenny Matten, said: “Being a Lived Experience Ambassador within the Trust and the Patient Experience team is like having an extension to my family.
“Everyone has great respect for each other and are very supportive in each other’s work.
“Having the opportunity to co-produce a better quality of care for our service users gives me a great sense of purpose and a clear goal that we are all heading towards, and without this I would feel rather lost with no real sense of direction.”
As well as Lived Experience Ambassadors (LEAs), we also have volunteers, and numerous active patient forums.
Their contribution was celebrated and recognised at our first co-production conference in October.
Our co-production lead Mark Dale said: “We are committed to actively involving people with lived experience to ensure patients and service users are at the heart of everything we do.
“They are supporting us at every level, including sitting on interview panels, working on projects, improving our services, delivering training, supporting service users and staff, and volunteering as a governor.”
Our Reward and Recognition policy encourages authentic co-production within the Trust and ensures we recognise the contributions and experiences of our LEAs on an equal level to paid staff.
The number of LEAs working with us has grown since it was launched in August 2022 and the policy was shortlisted for the Co-Production Award in the East of England Great British Care Awards in November.
The Great British Care Awards celebrate teams and individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work in the care sector.
We encourage colleagues across the Trust to let patients and service users know about the opportunities available if they would like to become an LEA.
Anyone who is interested in becoming a lived experience ambassador or finding out more about how their experience can help make a difference, can find out more by emailing [email protected]