A view of Lancashire Care Trust’s Service User and Carer Conference

I’m Nick, a new bright-eyed and bushy-tailed intern at Patient Opinion. With no knowledge of the NHS or service user engagement, last week I was thrown in at the deep-end and accompanied my colleague Tim to an ‘NHS service user and carer event’ in sunny Lancashire.

Besides anticipating an extensive buffet, I had no preconceptions of the event. I went along in the hope of seeing how NHS staff involve and listen to the people they care for, and how this could improve care and recovery.

The day was really thought-provoking. The main thrust was ‘care’ and engaging service users, carers and practitioners in conversations about service user involvement and what it can become. I felt reassured that the ‘bigwigs’ and providers within Lancashire Care were taking service user involvement seriously and striving to bring clinicians, mental health providers and senior managers closer to ‘everyday’ care experiences.

As people became more comfortable and developed relationships—stories came to the fore, some positive, some harrowing and some reflecting a mixture - the good, bad and the ugly of mental health care.

I heard lots of people’s stories that day, but one in particular grabbed my attention. The story I heard from him, who we’ll call Dave, began very positively—he spoke of the excellent care and help he received from psychiatrists, psychologists and particularly occupational therapists. I was transfixed by the honesty and optimism of Dave’s story, as he took us through how his journey of care “saved him” and “gave him his life back”.

However, Dave’s experience is also about a lack of aftercare—an example of NHS professionals deciding for themselves when someone is better or recovered and able to “get on with life”. I was left wondering whether it should be Dave deciding when care—however low-level—is no longer required. Surely, recovery must mean more than treating or managing and overcoming symptoms, it is about social inclusion, supporting people to participate within communities—to be citizens.

I went to the event with few expectations, I ended up learning so much about the complexity of people’s stories and that there isn’t often a clear solution. In any conversation, one side can feel their voice isn’t being heard, but I think it is part of the responsibility of the NHS staff to make sure the voices of those in their care aren’t lost or distorted but heard above all else.