In the January 2020 The Network, Katharine Lazenby, who spent more time in her 20s in mental healthcare facilities than at home, but is now on the road to recovery, discussed with editor, Jonathan Baillie, some of her at times challenging and difficult experiences as an inpatient service-user.
In the discussion’s second part – reported on here – she talked enthusiastically about her recent work – through, for example, conference speaking, teaching, and volunteering, to help those with mental ill health regain their equilibrium.
Having spent the first half of our discussion in London just before Christmas last year talking about her own inpatient service-user experiences, I asked Katharine Lazenby to move on to tell me a little about her recent work – drawing on those experiences – helping other service-users, an area on which she has focused particularly in the past 2-3 years. It rapidly became clear that she believes firmly in giving those who use and stay in mental healthcare facilities a ‘voice’. She said: “For example, I am involved with an initiative called ‘People Participation’. It is part of the NHS, and there are People Participation Groups throughout the service across England, I believe. The Group that I work with is run by the East London NHS Foundation Trust, and has a lot of mental health service-users involved. It gives them a voice on how services are shaped and delivered; for example, you can sit on interview panels for different NHS staff, which I have done quite a lot, attending interviews for nurses, consultants, and ward doctors etc. In fact, I believe it should be mandatory for all Trusts to have a service-user representative involved in all recruitment, since we are ultimately the people who will benefit from the work that the staff do”
The East London NHS Foundation Trust had, she explained, been ‘great at promoting the service-user voice’, and giving service-users an opportunity for involvement in the review and commissioning of services. Katharine Lazenby has also participated in hospital inspections under the PLACE (Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment) programme. “I have done a few PLACE assessments, and found them very interesting,” she explained. “You’re looking at things like cleanliness, and how the inpatient environment is maintained, plus how therapeutic it actually is.
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