6873 The voice of young people at the heart of service improvement

Objectives The World Health Organization's global standards of care for adolescents¹ and the 'You're Welcome' Guidance² support ongoing evaluation and improvement of health care services for adolescents to ensure their health and wellbeing needs are met. Young people experience many barriers to accessing quality healthcare and information. Listening to and involving young people in their care and in the design, delivery and review of services is essential to improve young peoples' access to information and engagement with services as well as ensure they feel empowered to navigate their health journeys. Methods We distributed adolescent service feedback surveys to all Young people seen over the last year as an inpatient or outpatient in a specialist tertiary adolescent service. Electronic survey links were added to appointment and clinic letters as well as distributed using leaflets and posters via QR codes. The surveys were completed anonymously by the Young person and/or their carer. The survey included questions around their understanding of their diagnosis, access to information, feeling believed and understood, what advice and intervention was beneficial and which not, their confidence in managing their health, and how they feel we can improve the service. Results This survey highlights the importance of placing young people's voices at the heart of services and the care they provide.The survey highlighted the importance of being listened to and believed to build up professional trust, clear communication and information about the diagnosis and management plan to empower the young person in their health journey. Being seen alone, ensuring privacy, timely follow ups and a named contact for support in between appointments were important to the young people. A MDT approach to care was very much appreciated in regards to expertise and timely input. Young people would appreciate a forum to discuss their diagnosis and wellbeing with peers. Conclusion Listening to and learning from young peoples' experiences is essential when developing or improving Adolescent health services. The data reveals invaluable feedback to improve our service and which can be extrapolated to new adolescent services being developed by understanding how to effectively engage, inform and meet Young people's health needs. The data highlighted the importance of 'sticking to the basics' of listening, effective communication, ensuring privacy and fostering independence by providing information and time to be seen alone. References WHO, Setting standards for adolescent care. 2015. UK Gov Guidance. 'You're Welcome': establishing youth-friendly health and care services. 2023.