Patient and public partnership

Involving patients, carers and the public in the work that we do - whether that is seeking your feedback, welcoming you as part of our volunteer team, or simply providing more opportunities to participate in shaping the future of our hospitals - is incredibly important. We know that by involving and working in partnership with you, we can make the most of every opportunity we have to listen, learn and improve. That's why we want to better engage and involve patients, carers and the public.

Read more about our current patient forums and involvement opportunities below. You can also get involved through becoming a volunteer (opens in a new window).

You can also sign up to our patient and public partnership mailing list (opens in a new window) so that you are able to keep up-to-date with the latest opportunities as well as news and events.

Patient forums

Epsom and St Helier Hospitals Carers Forum

Carers are the largest providers of care and support in each area of the UK. A carer is defined as someone who looks after family, partners or friends in need of help because they are ill, frail or have a disability; the care they provide is unpaid.

We are on our way to becoming a more carer-friendly organisation, teaming up with local organisations and people to bring together expertise and enthusiasm from across healthcare and our communities. An action plan has been developed to help us, overseen by our Carers Steering Board.

We have also set up a carers forum, a community of current and former carers who can come together to provide information and support, share experiences and ideas, and to work with us to help shape the services we provide and improve the experience of young and adult carers. The forum meets quarterly, and will feed into the work of the Carers Steering Board.

If you would like to express interest in joining this meeting and being part of the Carers Forum, or simply want to find out more, please contact the Patient Experience and Partnership Team on 020 8296 4326 or email esth.patientexperienceteam@nhs.net.

Cancer Patient Experience Forum

Are you a cancer patient, or are you a carer for someone who has cancer? Your experience is valuable to us and we welcome your comments and suggestions.

Come and join us to help improve cancer services in our hospitals.

View the Cancer Patient Forum poster[pdf] 2MB

For further information please call Tarlika Patel on 01372 735456 (Epsom) or 020 8296 4730 (St Helier).

Current involvement opportunities

Dementia Steering Group

Our vision is to deliver high quality care to people living with dementia, in a dementia-friendly environment. We are revising our Dementia Strategy, which sets out what we are doing and will do to achieve this vision.

To drive forward this work, the Trust has a multidisciplinary Dementia Steering Group, the role of which is to review analyse, develop, recommend, implement and evaluate good practice in the area of dementia care. A key part of the group will be having a patient and/or carer representative. The group currently meets once per month. For further information or to express interest, please email esth.clinicalpractice@nhs.net.

Join an NIHR Committee

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds high quality research that is focused on the needs of patients and the public. It aims to ensure that the knowledge, experiences and interests of patients, service users, carers and the public inform and contribute to its work.

The NIHR coordinating centres, NIHR Academy and NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC) are looking for members of the public to join a number of national and regional committees. For more information and how to apply, please click here. Nelow are some helpful resources that give an insight into the role of a public committee member:

’Everything you wanted to know about being a public committee member’ is a video about public members sharing their experiences and insights on the role of a public committee member, including some useful top tips
‘Public reviewing with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)‘ is a free online interactive course designed for new and experienced public committee members as well as public reviewers.

If you have any questions about these opportunities, or would like more information, please contact the NIHR team by emailing publicrecruitment@nihr.ac.uk, or call 0113 5328 383 (Academy), 0208 8843 8041 (CCF), 023 8059 9302 (NETSCC).