Reality out of the Rhetoric: Increasing User Involvement in a Mental Health Trust

aking a reality of user involvement requires a great deal more than the simple inclusion of token representatives on committees or a signature on a care plan. If the involvement of service users is to be meaningful, it requires a major cultural change for service providers at all levels: ■ strategic: input to the development, planning and organisation of services ■ operational: providing feedback about the experience of services – community teams, wards, day facilities, residential units – to inform decisions about the way they are run ■ individual: making decisions about individual treatment and support and the ways in which this will be provided.