Roles for service users and carers

The NHS Patient Safety Strategy was published in July 2019 and describes how we will work with partners throughout the NHS within three broad themes of Insight, Involvement, and Improvement.

As a service user or carer of our service, we would like you to be actively involved in the review and design of safe health care at all levels in the organisation to improve the safety of care at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH). You will sit on the Trust Patient Safety Effectiveness Group to help us to review quality and safety themes and responses through a lived experience lens, challenge members to consider service user and carer experience and engagement, co-design ideas for improvement, and co-produce continuous improvement projects (outside of this group but accountable to this group). See role description & governance structure for more details.

We are looking for expressions of interest from service users and carers who can attend:

• 1 x 2-hour meeting on the last Tuesday of each month (3pm – 5pm) via Microsoft Teams
• 1 x 1 hour prep meeting per month with the Head of Patient Safety to prepare for the meeting
• Quality improvement meetings and projects as discussed and agreed which may involve face to face meetings

You must be:

• A current or former mental health service user or carer.
• Have a broad understanding of, and interest in, patient safety and service improvement.
• Can communicate effectively with a wide range of people including service users, carers, other professionals within a meeting forum.
• Can review and develop constructive feedback based on meeting reports
• Constructively curious and solution focused with a passion for improving mental health services.

You will be paid for your time in line with the Trust policy which is £15 per hour from 1 January 2026. 

To find out more and register your interest, please send a brief description of why you think you will be a good person for this role to Ana.Sanderson@gmmh.nhs.uk.

The deadline for expressions of interest is Monday 15 December 2025. You will be contacted by Friday 19 December 2025.

We look forward to hearing from you!

---

Role description

Role summary/purpose

The NHS Patient Safety Strategy was published in July 2019 and describes how we will work with partners throughout the NHS within three broad themes of Insight, Involvement, and Improvement.

As a person with lived experience of using mental health services as a service user and/or carer, we would like you to be actively involved in the review and design of safe health care at all levels in the organisation to improve the safety of care at GMMH. You will sit on the Trust Patient Safety Effectiveness Group to help us to review themes and responses through a lived experience lens, challenge members to consider service user and carer experience and engagement, co-design ideas for improvement, and co-deliver and co-evaluate quality improvement projects with our services (outside of this group but accountable to this group).

People who have experienced mental health care often want to share both good and bad experiences to help improve services for themselves and others.  They also tell us that they want to be involved in and see real change.  The role of Patient Safety Partner brings a real opportunity to get involved and bring about meaningful change.

Reviewing concerns and incidents can be challenging and we are committed to ensuring your psychological safety.  Supervision will be provided along with pre and post meeting opportunities to discuss queries / concerns and offer the chance to reflect so that we can keep you safe.

Main duty and responsibilities

Thank you for your interest in this role. As part of the role, we would like you to:

• Attend support meetings with us to familiarise yourself with the purpose of any meeting/event you have been asked to be involved in and to be able to reflect so that we can work together to keep you safe
• Attend meetings and provide a service user/carer perspective
• Follow the agenda for the meeting/event
• Be an active member of the meeting or event and present your views and that of other service users and carers
• Help evaluate learning response reports to continually improve patient safety
• Help the group make decisions/recommendations that will lead to service improvements
• Keep up to date with the minutes/summary of the meeting/event and inform the Chair of any agenda items you would like discussed
• Be part of co-designing patient safety improvement projects
• Feedback to other service users and carers on decisions and service improvements so that they are kept up to date with developments
• Understand and comply with all Trust policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines relevant to this role
• Understand the Trust goals and how you can help to achieve them in this role
• Be willing to receive training when a need is identified, and training is available
• Take responsibility for your own learning and attend regular supervision/support meetings

Requirements for the role

To fulfil the duties of this role we ask that you:

• Be a current or former mental health service user or carer
• Have a broad understanding of, and interest in, patient safety
• Can communicate effectively with a wide range of people including service users, carers, other professionals, and members of the public
• Constructively curious and solution focused with a passion for improving mental health services
• Can handle challenging situations and behave in a challenging but respectful and supportive manner
• Can demonstrate tact and diplomacy and show respect for others
• Can manage conflicting priorities in a sensitive manner
• Have good oral communication skills
• Have a positive regard for service users and their families

PLACE (Patient Led Assessments of the Care Environment) Inspector

We are looking for individuals to help us form a trust wide PLACE inspection team.  Throughout the year the PLACE inspection team will visit all of our inpatient wards at Prestwich, Manchester, Bolton, Salford, Trafford, and Wigan, making sure that Greater Manchester Mental Health is providing the best environments for its service users.  The team looks at a variety of standards such as: cleanliness, quality of the food, privacy and dignity, the buildings general condition and maintenance & how the environment supports the care of those with dementia.

We are looking for applications from service users and carers with recent experience of mental health wards.

We will be providing PLACE inspection training prior to you starting and ongoing 1:1 support.

Our Inspectors are paid for their time; the rate of pay is £11.44 per hour. We will reimburse all public travel expenses or mileage costs if using your own car.

For more information

Tel: 0161 358 0833 / 07917 232302
Alternatively, email: ruth.lyons@gmmh.nhs.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!

Poster:  PLACE Assessor Poster.pdf