Our first virtual PACE Forum: May 2020

On Tuesday 5 May 2020 we held our first virtual Patient and Carer Experience (PACE) forum.

The meeting welcomed 40 attendees, who heard updates from Medical Director, John Byrne regarding about the Trust’s COVID-19 response and the measures that we have taken to support the patient and carer experience at this time.

Patient and Carer Experience forums are an opportunity to help raise the profile of patient and carer experience in our services, give our members and other patients the opportunity to make positive and constructive suggestions about our services, and participate in improving and developing services within the Trust.

The meeting also heard from Sam Grey, Volunteer Services Manager, who shared the vital role of Trust volunteers in supporting our staff and services. Rachel Kirby, Marketing and Communications Manager, let the meeting know more about ‘Care Mail’. This is our initiative to get messages of hope and support to staff and patients in our inpatient, community wards and GP surgeries. Rachel also updated about Trust internal communications campaigns to ensure important messages reach our front-line staff.

Mandy Dawley, Head of Patient and Carer Experience said: “These forums are a vital way for us to understand the experience of our care, directly from the patients and carers themselves. This meeting was different to our usual format but it was important for us to continue these important conversations as well as to give them the insight into how we are responding to this unprecedented event.”

Executive Medical Director, Dr John Byrne said: “I am delighted that we were able to run a successful virtual forum. It was great to see such excellent representation from across the areas we operate and to not only share our updates, but also to hear from our patients, carers and partners about how they managing with the impact of the pandemic.”