Involving clients and their carers as equal partners on a project using electronic communication

2006 Conference

Sue Ashby works as a member of a research team organising meetings within a project which aims to improve care for older people.

The research team are interested in a type of care known as Intermediate Care. This involves looking after a person in their own home or other suitable place providing care which would have otherwise required staying in hospital. The project looks at how different professionals work together to provide this care. The research team are clients and carers, health and social care staff and experienced researchers. We believe that it is important to involve clients and carers because they can guide the research and ensure that we include their views and experiences as they are ultimately the service users. To fully involve this team we are using electronic communication (e-mail, web pages and a discussion forum) which gives the members who are situated in different areas a way in which to communicate together at the same time.

Sue will talk about how the clients and carers as equal partners of the project team are supported using this form of communication, how it facilitates participation and how changes were made.