Once they are appointed, your new chair is responsible for leading and facilitating the work of the Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP), working with other members of the service user leadership team and other core staff and service user MVP members and with support from the MVP link person/team. In the first few months your chair and service user leadership team will need support to get started in their roles. First steps are likely to include:
- Introduce them to key contacts in the MVP support team, the maternity commissioner and provider organisations, the Local Maternity System and any other statutory partners.
- Let them know what support is available to them from the partner organisations to help them in their roles. For example, this could include access to any IT systems, any local training courses they can attend, access to expertise or support functions, and any mentoring you have put in place for them.
Now the pandemic is easing, I think it is good practice to give new service-user members a tour of the maternity unit. This has a double purpose as fresh eyes may see some immediate issues and/or could recruit people to walk the patch or twelve steps.
(Organisation/Role of this commenter: Consultant Midwife in Public Health)
I agree Pauline very good idea
(Organisation/Role of this commenter: Obstetrician KHFT)
I’ve now added this to section 3.2, as I think you’re saying it’s relevant for all service user members, not just the service user leadership team:
“In addition, you may wish to offer service-user members a tour of the maternity unit as this can have multiple benefits:
– New service user members can familiarise themselves with the service
– Fresh eyes may be able to identify some immediate areas for improvement
– You can invite service user members to volunteer for Walk the Patch (see section 4.4) and/or the 15 Steps for Maternity (see section 3.13).”