Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust Youth Board
Our Youth Board speak with staff, patients (and their families) and partner organisations to look at patient pathways and to see what support and resources are available.
The board rotate the Chair and Co-Chair positions between them to ensure they are all able to gain valuable experience in these roles and also have a Diversity Lead in place who meets regularly with our Multicultural Inclusion Network.
The youth board members also receive bespoke HR training to equip members with the skills to join our interview panels as we are keen to ensure the voices of young people are included in our decision making processes.
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust Youth Board is a forum made up of young people aged 14-18 who are living, studying or working in Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley boroughs, who:
- Ensure a voice on the rights of children and young people (CYP).
- Provide insight about what CYP like and care about.
- Raise awareness to help other CYP to understand our work.
- Act as a forum for CYP to share their personal experiences and insights about community & acute care.
- Improve experience of transition to adult services.
LGT Youth Board members are:
- A representative voice - ensuring the voice of CYP are listened to by adult decision makers.
- Advising the CYP division / Trust - providing advice and guidance from the perspective of a young person.
- Community representatives - representing their school and community views that matter to the young people.
- Uniting young people - creating links between different groups of young people and the CYP division / Trust.
- Promoting a positive image of young people.
- Gaining new skills and have access to opportunities to develop as an individual.
- Able to be involved in commissioning new services.
- To be part of interview panels interviewing for all jobs within the CYP division / Trust and its partner agencies.
What young people say
“A Youth Board is a really simple way of making sure that your opinion is heard and influences the future of the Trust. It’s been a privilege to meet with different organisations and hear the opinions of young people who genuinely want to make an impact, like me! And I would encourage anyone to join.”
The Youth Board have been involved in a number of projects, including:
- Attendance at the CYP nursing recruitment day
- Input on design for a ligature-free room on the children’s wards
- “You’re Welcome” accreditation audit
- Youth board sleepover
If you would be interested in joining the LGT Youth board please complete an application (link to application form), or for more information contact:
The Patient Experience team: LG.patientexperienceLGT@nhs.net
Robert Cole, Head of Nursing: Robert.cole@nhs.net
Trudie Kee, Programmes Manager, Redthread QEH: Trudie.kee@nhs.net