Cygnet Health Care: Experts by Experience
How recruiting people with lived experience of inpatient services can help to transform care and inform decision making.
Overview
- We visited a Cygnet Health Care facility in Somerset, where former inpatients have been recruited to improve care for patients on mental health wards.
- The programme aims to go beyond traditional forms of service-user involvement, enabling service users and creating an equal culture of co-production.
- As well as being able to emphathise with patients undergoing treatment, experts by experience can also advocate on their behalf internally.
- Feedback at board level has been positive, with new processes feeding insights back to directors, informing decision making and learning at different levels.
