Publish date: 10 March 2025
A new document developed by service users and patients to support those people working in co-production across Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP), has been produced.
The new Involvee Passport is aimed at helping those people with lived experience of our services and who work in co-production with AWP staff, to share any information they feel is helpful to them to work on an equal footing.
The idea is those service users and patients who work with staff at AWP, to fill in the Involvee Passport in with any useful personal information. Involvees can add as much or as little information as they like – and they can update the document at any time. The Passport will enable the staff or other involvees to make any reasonable adjustments in advance of them working together.
‘Involvees’ is a term used at AWP to describe service users and patients who are closely involved with projects and initiatives across the Trust, providing expertise from their lived experience.
Katherine is an involvee working as part of the training and support workstream. She said: "The passport is involvees to give. It sets out the information they wish staff to be aware of when starting a new project. It will make life easier both for involvees and staff when starting a new project. I hope that people use it, but they don’t have to. It is their choice.”
Katherine, along with another involvee, Caroline, recorded videos to help explain to staff and other involves what the passports are for and how they should be used. You can watch their videos here.
Involvement co-ordinators can help involvees develop the passport in conversation, and they can also share this with individuals or teams if people want them to. It will be useful for involvees to have a digital copy on their phone, or in paper form, so that they can share with staff before working with them.
The idea for the Involvee Passport came from service users and was included in the Trust’s Working Together strategy, which sets out how the Trust intends to improve the way we work in co-production.
Sue Woodland, Patient and Carer Experience Coordinator at AWP, stresses the aim of the Working Together strategy: "Together we will improve the quality of involvement and co-production by ensuring that people with lived experience are offered meaningful opportunities to work with AWP and are appropriately supported while taking part."
