Member Article

North East charity opens the doors to service users

A North East charity which helps some of the most excluded members of society is set to implement a range of new ideas after holding its first service user feedback day.

Supported housing charity Norcare welcomed over 40 service users from around its catchment area (Darlington to Blyth), to give their opinions on the services it provides. The event was just one of the actions being taken by Norcare to ensure that their services are designed to genuinely reflect what their service users are looking for. The day comprised group-work and feedback on Norcare’s services taking up the morning, followed by fun and games in the afternoon.

Susan Bickerton, chief executive of Norcare said: “Norcare as an organisation is determined to involve our service users as much as possible in defining our strategy and to do that we need feedback.”

Suggestions from the day included the establishment of a service user focus group to regularly feed back to the organisation, and more events held with the wider public to increase interaction outside of Norcare.

Jeff Chandler, a disabled service user who has been assisted by Norcare for the past two years praised the event for its “positivity”. He said: “Events like this help to break the barriers down, and create greater cohesion and understanding between staff and service users.”

Helen Bowyer, Norcare’s service improvement manager, said: “This event was all about listening to our service users and responding to what they need and want. It was important to give us the information we need to provide a better service but also to enable the service users to socialise more widely and meet others facing similar daily challenges in their lives. Events like this are key to making service users feel as involved as possible in the organisation and those who use it.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .