Service users and carers should have influence throughout the whole programme. Therefore it is important to find ways to engage people in governance, for example through course committees. This is where an organisation can be at its most formal and bureaucratic. However it is worth challenging existing practices in order to include a wider range of perspectives. This section explains how some places have begun to achieve this.
“Service user involvement should be embedded in all levels of decision-making that affect the lives of service users.”
—SCIE, 2008
Top Tip: Involvement in governance can bring many additional benefits:
Representation on committees can be supported by the existence of a User and Carer Reference Group. Programme meetings can be made more accessible by a pre-meeting which enables the group to go through the agenda and prepare what they want to say. The General Social Care Council reports that this is the practice at the University of Middlesex where the group has a pre meeting with the programme leader. This process is seen as respectful and as increasing the group’s involvement in decision-making. (General Social Care Council, undated).
Glasgow Caledonian University has service users on its Programme Boards, Programme Assessment Boards and on the Masters Development Board.
The School of Health and Social Work at the Open University has had a Service User Panel since 2000. It advises on quality issues and on furthering service user involvement. Members are paid and meet both separately and with staff from the School. There is a job description for service users and carers who want to engage in this way.
Glasgow School of Social Work has service user and carer involvement in the course monitoring committee, practice learning committee and selection committee.
The University of Dundee developed a grassroots network of user and carer groups to enable them to influence the Social Work Degree. The main service user and carer (CU) Group met regularly to consider strategies for greater involvement and has formal representation on the Programme Committee. It links with some 40 local groups.
Review the opportunities which people who use services and carers have to influence the degree. Is the influence they have commensurate with their importance as stakeholders? If not, consider holding a discussion with some user and carer groups about the best way to engage people in governance structures and processes.
General Social Care Council (2005). Working Towards Full Participation: A report on how social work degree courses, which started in 2003, have begun to involve service users and carers in social work training.
SCIE (2008). Developing Social Care: Service Users Driving Cultural Change. SCIE Knowledge Review No. 17