SpeakOut

SpeakOut is a national network of more than 100 marginalised and disadvantaged community groups. Created to support the Care Quality Commission in the discharge of its regulatory functions and managed by the School of Social Work at the University of Central Lancashire, SpeakOut is an example of how the engagement of marginalised and disadvantaged groups can be effectively facilitated.

Its 114 members come from all over the country and include people from: minority faith groups, Black and minority ethnic groups, refugees and asylum seekers, people with a range of physical disabilities, lesbian gay and bisexual people, mental health service users, people with learning disabilities, people with specific dietary needs, older people, young people, Gypsy and Traveller communities, gender specific groups, prisoners, people with HIV, transgender and homeless people.

Since January 1 st 2014, SpeakOut groups have supported CQC in the following ways

Two groups organised focus groups to support the diabetes services review in February 2014:

Asian Disabled Association (South Asian) Leeds Involving People (Mixed Black and minority ethnic)

Five groups supported the review of out of hours GP services in Derby, Suffolk, Kirklees, Manchester and Cambridgeshire:

Asian Disabled Association (Homeless people) Age UK Suffolk (Older people) Womens Mental Health and Well-Being Service (Women with a history of mental

illness) BHA (South Asian) One Voice for Travellers (Gypsy’s and Travellers)

Twenty three groups have supported Acute, Mental Health and Community Trust Inspections for Leicester, Hull and East Yorkshire, St Georges, Dudley Group, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, East Lancashire, Alderhey, Brighton and Sussex, North West London, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Calderstones Partnership, Surrey and Borders, Avon and Wiltshire Partnership, Birmingham Community Healthcare, Cambridgeshire Community Services and Bradford District Care Trust:

Leicester BME elders forum (Older BME people) Choices and Rights (Physical and sensory disability) Kingston Centre for Independent Living (Physical and sensory disability) Mushkil Aasaan (South Asian) Leeds Involving People (Mental health service users) BHA Skyline (HIV positive refugees and asylum seekers) Dudley African Caribbean Befriending Service (African Caribbean) Dudley African Carers and Disability Support Group (African). The New Testament Welfare Association (African and African Caribbean) . Maundy Relief (Mental health service users, substance misusers, homeless people) Burnley Pendle and Rossendale CVS (Burnley residents) Young Addaction (substance misusers) SEEFA (older people) HASVO (refugees and asylum seekers) Brent User Group (mental health service users) Mashriq Resource Centre (South Asian women) Calderstones Partnership Involvement Group (Learning disability) Surrey Coalition of Disabled People (Learning disability) Wiltshire and Swindon Users Network (Mental health service users and learning

disability) Sakeena Girls Youth Group (South Asian) One Voice for Travellers (Gypsy’s and Travellers) Sharing Voices (Mental health service users) Equity Partnership (Transgender)

Four groups completed 25 narrative interviews to help define what ‘good’ care looks like in maternity, A&E, surgery and out-patients units:

West Bromwich African Caribbean Resource Centre (African Caribbean) Al Hayat (South Asian) Asian Disabled Association (Homeless) Binoh (Orthodox Jewish)

Seven groups undertook consultations about the proposed changes to regulatory framework and the new rating system:

Sakeena Youth Group (South Asian) SIFA Fireside (Homeless) Retired Caribbean Nurses (African Caribbean) Binoh (Orthodox Jewish) CARES Sandwell (Carers) My Life My Choice (Learning disability) Pakistani Resource Centre (South Asian)

And fifteen groups are currently involved in planning and delivering a total of 16 community focus groups to support the Q2 inspections of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust, North West Ambulance Service, South Central Ambulance Service, Greater Preston CCG GPs, Leicester CCG GPs, Oxford CCG GPs and Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG GP’s:

Disability Equality NW (Physical and sensory disability) Windrush Initiatives (African Caribbean) Womens Centre, Kirklees (Mental health service users) BHA (Mixed Black and minority ethnic) Binoh (Orthodox Jewish) The Lesbian and Gay Foundation (Lesbian and Gay) Awaaz fm (Mixed Black and minority ethnic) My Life My Choice (Learning disability) BME Elders Forum (Older BME) West Bromwich African Caribbean Resource (African Caribbean) Kumba (Mental health service users) OSCAR (Sickle Cell Anaemia and Thalassaemia) Cares Sandwell (Carers) Sandwell Visually Impaired (Sensory disability) Sakeena Girls Youth Group (South Asian)

In addition, ten groups carried out consultations for Healthwatch England in support of their framework for rights and responsibilities in February 2014:

Disability Equality NW ((Physical and sensory disability) One Voice for Travellers (Gypsy’s and Travellers) Calderstones Partnership Involvement Group (Learning disability)

Wiltshire and Swindon Users Network (Mental health service users and learning disability)

West Bromwich African Caribbean Resource Centre (African Caribbean) Sandwell African Caribbean Mental Health Forum (African Caribbean mental

health service users) Cares Sandwell (Carers) BHA (Mixed Black and minority ethnic) Binoh (Orthodox Jewish) Asian Disabled Association (Homeless people)

Through these events, the Care Quality Commission has been able to hear the views and experiences of more than 550 people from a range of hard to reach communities.

In addition, 46 people from twenty four groups attended the SpeakOut conference in Birmingham in June.

Representatives from two speakout groups have contributed to the CQC task and finish group on maternity services and representatives from four groups are members of equality voices. At least four SpeakOut groups have identified individuals who have now become experts by experience.

What people are saying about SpeakOut

Our experience is that these events are making a real difference. For example, one of the inspectors reported that:

This was one of the best things I have ever done as an inspector.  It really did make me think and has influenced the way I have planned this massive inspection. I had certainly never thought about some of the issues the women raised.  You can do all the training in the world but hearing their stories is by far the most powerful. I really hope we do more of these events; there is clearly a need for them.

And participants are getting a lot out of them too!

Just to say a big thank you for the meeting on Wednesday!  The feedback from our members has been highly positive in regards to how you facilitated the meeting and enabled everyone to have their say. The involvement was great and they really valued having both you and the CQC inspector there to feedback to and quiz, so thank you!

The total cost for all of this so far (including all work completed to the end of June and excluding the cost of the conference) is £81,871. That’s an average of just £1605.31 per group per event.