Description

Everyone has different experiences of health and social care. We need to hear about these to make sure that our work makes care better. Healthcare Improvement Scotland is part of the NHS in Scotland. Our job is to make sure that everyone in Scotland has the best possible health and care. The People’s Experience Volunteer role is a brand new role. It is one way that we hope to better hear people’s views in our work. You can help us put people’s different experiences of health services at the centre of the work we do by:

• Sharing your views on some of our ideas and programmes to give us a better idea of what is important to people in your area
• Helping us find out how people read and understand our reports, websites or information about health and care
• Working with us when we are thinking about how to engage with people on a topic or a change. You can help us shape and test our questions, test understanding of the topic and discover what is most important to people.

We are seeking to recruit volunteers from Orkney with a range of different experiences and identities; you don’t need any healthcare related experience. The time commitment will be no more than half a day a month. Ideally we would like volunteers to be involved throughout our first year to help us get established. How you take part might vary depending on the activity and your personal circumstances. Activities may be face-to-face, online or by telephone.

Volunteering has been shown to have a positive effect on volunteers. Volunteering in this role may give you a sense of purpose or may help you gain confidence and new knowledge. As a volunteer with us you can help improve the health and care experience of people receiving care in Scotland. This role may also give you opportunities to meet other volunteers in your own or other areas and be part of a community of volunteers within HIS.

HIS is seeking to recruit volunteers with a range of different experiences and identities. We are particularly keen to involve disabled people, people who are black, Asian or from a minority ethnic group and people who are living on low incomes as we know that any of these things can cause differences in people’s health. It is important to us that we are able to listen to a broad range of people to hear about their different experiences of health and care.

Organisation aims and objectives

Scottish Health Council is a directorate of Healthcare Improvement Scotland. (http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org). We provide proactive and tailored support to develop public participation in health and social care.

Restrictions

Experience required: You don’t need any specific skills, just an interest in making health and care better for everyone. We will consider what you say and what it means for our work. All your feedback will be anonymised, and we will make sure that it isn’t shared in a way that could identify you.
Travel details: If we are meeting face-to-face we will use accessible meeting places and cover travel and support expenses that you may have, according to the rules set out in our expenses policy. We will provide you with introductory information about HIS, what it does and what your role will be so that you are able to take part

Support

Training details: We will talk to you about how you would like to be contacted by us to give us your views. We will ask you about any requirements you have so we can support you to take part. For example if you usually have support from personal assistants or interpreters.