Patient, Carer and Public Involvement Team

CNWL’s Patient and Carer Involvement Team work with the public and anyone who uses our services to make sure that patients and carers have a say in how we do things. We do this because involving people with lived experience leads to better services and better health outcomes.

We support and advise teams across the Trust on how to involve patients and carers in local groups, activities, projects, staff recruitment interviews, local committees and staff training.

We run Trust-wide involvement groups, including the Carers’ Council and the Patient Involvement Forum, who advise on CNWL policies and service changes as well as designing and delivering events and publications.  Any CNWL service can send materials or questions to these groups for comment.   

We are supporting services to meaningfully involve patients and carers in Quality Improvement (QI) and helping to increase the numbers of people with lived experience involved in QI.

We look at all patient and carer feedback and help services use this to make local improvements.

We share good practice and innovative ideas about involvement across the Trust.  

There are many options, including:

1. Joining a committee or group to advise on services
2. Taking part in a Quality Improvement (QI) project
3. Being on a recruitment panel to help select CNWL staff
4. Advising on CNWL policies
5. Taking part in local activities for patients and carers
6. Helping design or review information leaflets
7. Attending patient or carer events and workshops 
8. Getting involved in research

Here is a welcome pack that says a bit more about how we work

Our involvement strategy explains how we are expanding meaningful patient and carer involvement across the Trust. To help achieve this, we have produced some short guides and documents. All of our materials are carefully put together by patients, carers and staff working in partnership because all have equal expertise and all are great assets to the Trust.

If you are a patient, carer or member of the public who would like to get involved, please let us know and we will talk to you and sign you up to our involvement register.

If you are a member of staff who wants advice on involving people, please check Trustnet under involvement or get in touch with us. We can help you identify suitable people and advise you on things like how to set up a patient or carer group, how to arrange payment and how to make involvement meaningful.

You can contact us on: involvement.cnwl@nhs.net or call 020 3317 3735

List of resources

• Patient, carer and public involvement strategy 2019-2023 which explains how we are increasing partnership working opportunities for staff, patients and carers.
• Patient and carer skills passport
  • We wanted to find a way for patients, carers and volunteers to record the skills they are using in their involvement with us, whether being on a staff interview panel, attending a course, being part of a committee or volunteering with a service.  A Patient and Carer Involvement Consultant on our team developed this skills passport in collaboration with other patients, carers and staff. We hope people will find this a useful tool to capture their expertise and achievements and help plan future activities.
• Patient and carer involvement publications. Keep up to date with the latest goings on by checking these out:
  • Summer Magazine made up of contributions from CNWL patients and carers (or ‘Experts by Experience’

If you are in receipt of State Benefits

Anyone in receipt of state benefits needs to stay within their ‘permitted earnings’ set by the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) when undertaking paid involvement with CNWL.  It is the individual’s responsibility to be aware of this and to declare payments in relation to tax, state benefits and earnings as required. CNWL can signpost people to advice about this.

If you receive benefits and are being paid for an involvement activity, you should:

1. Read the relevant leaflet for the type of benefit you are on. These can be found below or by contacting the involvement team by emailing involvement.cnwl@nhs.net or calling 0203 317 3735. Where needed, the involvement team can provide you with a standard letter to give to the Job Centre explaining that your involvement activity is not work.
    
2. Speak to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau if you need more information. You can call them on 0800 144 8848 or visit their website. ​​​​
    
3. If you are still unsure, the involvement team can refer you to more specialist, confidential, independent advice – please get in touch if you need this. 

Tax

Individuals are required to notify HM Revenue and Customs of any payment received only if their annual income exceeds their personal income tax allowance at the end of the financial year. Advice can be sought by calling 0345 120 3779 or visiting the taxaid website

Leaflets

• Carers Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and Attendance Allowance (AA)
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Income Support
• New Style Employment Support Allowance (ESA) with Universal Credit
• New Style Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) with Universal Credit
• State Pension and Pension Credit
• Universal Credit
• Tips on completing a Permitted to Work (PW1) form