Guest blog

News from the latest Papworth Trust User Forum
18/07/2012

On 5 July we had a Forum in Cambridge for people who use Papworth Trust services. The Forum gives people a chance to tell Papworth Trust about what is important to them, to hear about what is happening at Papworth Trust and to share ideas to improve their services.

Everyone who came to the Forum wrote this blog together to tell other people about it.

These are some of the things we talked about at the Forum:

We had a chance to meet, discuss and hear about the different things that are happening around Papworth Trust including:

  • The Papworth Trust 2017 Strategy - what the plans are, where Papworth Trust is going and who they plan to help in the future.
  • The Involvement Promise - we looked at whether it is working for people and what it means to the people who use services.
  • Facebook - we discussed setting up a Facebook group for users, discussed the privacy settings and how to stay safe on Facebook.
  • We also talked about the Terms of Reference for the group, what they should be and what they mean to the group.

The Forum is also a place to find out new things. These are some of the things people said they did not know before:

  • We learnt what the Involvement Promise is and it was lovely to recap about it.
  • We found out the settings and how to stay safe on Facebook.
  • We found out that Papworth Trust is looking into supporting more people with mental ill health, respite care and helping people with holidays.
  • We drafted the Terms of Reference and weren't too sure about them - maybe they should be called something else?

We asked people who they met at the Forum and they told us:

  • Richard Norton, Trustee.
  • New staff that have recently joined the Trust and old staff.
  • New and old friends.

These are some of the ideas we came up with at the Forum:

  • It's good idea to advertise the Involvement Promise more, for example online and at Papworth Trust stalls at community events.
  • The Facebook group is a fantastic idea - we've just got to get the information out.
  • It's important to know what's going on.
  • Discussions about the Involvement Promise - "It will be interesting to see how they are going to turn out."

We asked people what they did not like about the day and what could be improved:

  • "Nothing that wasn't enjoyable."
  • "For those who have heard the strategy before, we wanted some small update on what they have already done."
  • "It would have been nice if David could have stayed longer."
  • Some people said the venue was a sometimes a bit noisy (due to the traffic) or hot, and the parking was difficult. We also thought it would be better to have more tables for eating lunch.

What people said they liked about the day:

  • "Meeting Richard Norton, it was nice that he took the time to sit down, listening and taking our ideas back. It was nice that he talked to us all in a way we could understand."
  • "Venue - it was ok going up and downstairs."
  • "It's nice to meet new people."
  • "Hopefully it empowers service users more."
  • "Everyone and listening in the sessions."
  • "It's been informative and enjoyable."
  • "Facebook and Strategy was a bit interesting."
  • "Met new people."
  • "All of it - everything."

Thank you very much to Paul, Lucy, Alison, Neil, Sarah, Daniel, Rob, Lisa, Brett, Sue, David, Margaret, Linda, Priya, Susannah, Kate and Kulbir for helping to write this blog!

The next Forum is on 5 September at the OWL Café, Sawston. If you use a Papworth Trust service and you would like to come to a Forum, please contact Revonnia Gwewera by email at revonnia.gwewera@papworth.org.uk or by phone on 01480 357242.