East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) wants to build a new mental health hospital in Bedford and redevelop existing patient services in Luton, providing two hospital sites to serve the populations of Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton.
Experts by experience are seen as vital in helping ELFT develop its programme so services are developed by clinicians and service users in equal partnership.
The programme will span services and care for children and young people, adults and older adults.
It remains in its early stages and ELFT is committed to ensuring service user voices continue to be involved throughout.
“We want to get this incredibly important piece of work right and the only way we can do that is by working side-by-side with experts by experience who can help us understand how care works from a service user perspective – and how it can be improved,” said Robin Campbell, Deputy Director of Integrated Care.
“We want to include carers, children and young people, adults, older adults and we also want our co-production to reflect the county’s tremendously diverse communities. Do help us by sharing your insight and expertise.”