Consultations

Surrey County Council are starting work on co-producing their plans for next years’ budget. They have asked an external agency (‘Lake’) to support some focus groups (phase 1) and to undertake some targeted survey work (phase 2). This is instead of an online survey which has been carried out in the past. For the focus groups, they are recruiting (around) 30 people who make use of Adult Social Care services and carers of people who use Adult Social Care services to be involved. The agency will be giving each participant a voucher for their involvement. The potential dates of the two focus groups are 18th September 10am – 12pm and 21st September 6pm – 8pm and they will be held on zoom with a freephone dial in option. If you are interested in being part of the focus groups then please contact Rachel Brennan on 07989 830402 or email [email protected] Please could you include name, contact details, contact preferences/needs re any communication support. PLEASE NOTE LINK IS ONLY BACK TO US - please email [email protected] for more info.

Opportunity for a carer to help shape the Surrey Joint Carers Programme as a Carers Lay Chair. Bring your lived experience, insight and skills to this key lay leadership role.

Service users and carers are invited to have their say on changes to mental health services in Surrey which will give them easy access to specialist care in their GP's surgery for the first time. In a 3-year pilot project, the NHS in Surrey and North East Hampshire are running a pilot approach to providing mental health services, which will also enable people to get their mental health, physical health and social care needs all met at their GP’s surgery. The new system should be better integrated and stop people falling between the gaps. Do you want a say in shaping these new services so they’re best designed to help patients and carers? Come to our new monthly groups. To take part, email [email protected]

Surrey County Council would like to chat one-to-one with young carers (along with an adult in their life) to hear about what their life is like – what they find challenging, what they find helps and what their hopes and dreams are for the future. This will help SCC write a new strategy so that they can make sure services that help young carers will continue to help young people in the future. The chats will be on a video call and will be for about 45 minutes. You will receive £7 of Amazon vouchers as a thank you! If you are interested and are available, then they’d love to hear from you! Please email [email protected]

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust would like to hear the views of people in Surrey on the use of digital technology in healthcare. The survey results will enable the trust to design and shape new services.

HELP IMPROVE THE ACCESSIBILITY OF NHS 111! The RNIC is working with NHSEI to explore how the NHS 111 service could be made better for people who are deaf or have hearing loss. RNID is supporting NHSEI to recruit volunteers to provide their feedback over an interactive online platform, where volunteers can discuss their needs and share their ideas for service improvements, including a project looking into SMS as a way to contact NHS 111.

Surrey's Independent Mental Health Network are carrying out a short survey regarding mental health crisis support during the current Coronavirus pandemic. Please click to complete the survey.

The SCC User Voice and Participation team are working with emotional wellbeing and mental health services to gain an understanding of what it feels like for a young person transitioning out of the services they access. This transition could be out of children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health services completely or into another service. This short survey will help The User Voice and Participation Team to know what transition currently feels like for young people. We will also feed this information back to the appropriate services to ensure your voice is heard and hopefully bring about positive change to improve transition for other young people in Surrey. CLOSES 30 SEPTEMBER

King's College London are looking for carers to take part in a study about carers' resilience. Resilience is the ability to adapt to or ‘bounce back’ from difficulty. We know that carers can show resilience, living with long-term stress and adapting tochallenging circumstances. We also know that caregiving can impact carers’ own wellbeing. Can you help the study find out more about carer resilience and wellbeing, and the different ways of thinking that drive resilience. They hope to use what they find to create new ways to support carers. There's a prize draw for participation with the chance to win vouchers. APPLICATIONS CLOSE 29 OCTOBER.

Have you experienced changes to the number of paid care workers you receive at home, or had a review of your situation? Researchers at Newcastle University and Northumbria University would like to talk to carers/families who have had care at home where there has been a change to the number of paid care workers, or a review. They are interested in negative experiences as well as positive ones. A research will get in touch with, if you are interested in taking part. The research will be used to make recommendations on how such changes/reviews should be carried out.

A medical student study at the University of Birmingham is looking into the the impact of stress on people who care for adults with an intellectual disability. Participation would be an hour's Zoom discussion. Please click to see more details and email [email protected] if you'd like more information or to get involved. APPLICATIONS CLOSE 30 APRIL.

A study at UCL exploring the perspectives of Black carers who have experienced their loved one being compulsorily detained under the Mental Health Act (sometimes referred to as 'being sectioned') - reflecting also on the fact that Black people seem to be disproportionately detained. Research involves a confidential interview and two short questionnaires, with a £20 voucher for participation. Details on the attached poster (click image)