Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Strategy encourages public to have a say
A new engagement and participation strategy has been unveiled to encourage greater public input in Health & Social Care North Lanarkshire’s (HSCNL) services.
Approved by North Lanarkshire Integration Joint Board ( IJB) earlier this month, the new initiative for 2021- 24 describes how the partnership will help the Monklands public to have a greater say in services.
The bespoke strategy has been developed specifically to ensure the right systems and supports are in place to ensure people and groups can effectively engage with the partnership, no matter their location or circumstances.
Advice on how to help new volunteers best play a key role in organisations is included as are guidelines on expenses to ensure nobody is out of pocket for volunteering on behalf of their communities.
The framework has been designed to support individuals and groups with: supporting engagement and participation; key stakeholder network meetings; locality engagement fund; engagement tracker; evaluation participation guidelines and toolkit; and volunteer induction and expenses guidelines.
Dr Avril Osborne, chair of North Lanarkshire IJB, said: “We’re committed to building on local knowledge and experience.
“This is how we can best ensure services are tailored to the needs of our communities and make the most of the knowledgeable and dedicated groups spread across our towns and villages.
“The partnership’s whole reason for existing is to help people live safer, healthier, independent lives by providing the right information, local support networks and services, and by anticipating need before it arises.
“We fully understand that any plans to transform our services will not succeed without the full engagement, participation and support of service users, carers, our communities, and voluntary and independent sectors.”
Councillor Paul Kelly, vice-chair of North Lanarkshire IJB, added: “It is essential our stakeholders are empowered to contribute to the service they receive.
“This new strategy aims to make engagement as inclusive as possible. It’s vital that we remove any barriers in order to hear as wide a range of views as possible.
“To best accomplish this, the strategy has been devised with contributions from representatives of the community, voluntary and independent sectors, carers and people who use services.
“This was done through an engagement and participation working group to ensure a widespread collection of views are collected and acted on.
“We are very grateful for their valuable time, knowledge and insights which we have captured in this strategy.
“Their contributions have also given the partnership a deeper understanding of how we can involve our residents in the future and harness their knowledge as effectively as possible.”