New Community Engagement Panel
It’s really important to us that our developments are as useful and accessible as possible and we want to ensure we seek the views of our communities as early as possible in the development stage of each of our projects. To ensure this happens, we have developed a brand-new Community Engagement Panel consisting of people who have a professional and/or personal interest in respiratory health including people who experience respiratory conditions, parents and carers, who we ask to give views and feedback on our ideas and developments.
Our members meet virtually once every two months and take part in discussions to provide a public voice at the heart of the organisation. By working together, we can produce outstanding innovations and ultimately help to improve the health of people throughout Wales.
Respiratory disease can affect anyone, but some groups are at higher risk, so we are proud to have a diverse membership in our panel and are actively recruiting people from a wide range of backgrounds and encourage people of different genders and gender identity, age, disability, race, religion and sexuality to become involved. We will make every effort to accommodate individual needs.
If you would like to be part of this development and have your views and ideas heard please contact liz.jenkins@riwales.com
No. Whilst we would like some of our community engagement panel members to be respiratory patients/service users, we also welcome carers, friends, and family members of those who have a professional and/or academic interest in joining us.
You would need to be over 16 to get involved, however you may join with a parent or guardian if you are younger.
In general, there is no minimum time you are expected to give. You can discuss with us what arrangement works for you and how you wish to be involved. Some people will want to get more involved than others, but our aim is for your voice to be heard and we will find a way of ensuring this happens.
As a community engagement panel member, you will not be paid. We will however ensure you don’t lose out financially so will cover agreed expenses, such as travel and issue you with a £25 voucher for each meeting you attend.
Our informal introductory meeting explained how it will work and at the beginning of each meeting we will make it clear what we will be asking you to do. Typically, we will talk through a new development and ask your views on it. We will always try to make the meeting as informal as possible and hopefully comfortable for you to take part in discussions.
All community engagement panel members will receive regular updates and be invited to meetings. When we produce staff newsletters, we will share them with you. You can also keep up to date, if you wish, via our website and our Twitter accounts.
Occasionally there will be ‘real life’ meetings and events which you may wish to attend.
We will share good news stories about the panel and individual members and will reward people with vouchers, lunch during ‘in person’ events etc.
Please do not worry as we fully understand that this may happen. You can opt out of the panel at any point or take a break.
We will record your contact details so that we can correspond with you, arrange meetings, and send you vouchers. We will ask you to complete the registration form (below) for this purpose which It includes an equality and diversity form. The equality and diversity form is optional to complete although it would be helpful if you were willing to do so. Its sole purpose is to monitor the diversity of the panel to ensure it represents our communities as widely as possible.
We will also ask you for a short ‘bio’ about yourself so that we can include information about the panel on our website. Again, this is not compulsory, but it is a good way for others to learn about our activity and to encourage others to join.
There may be occasions where we do not wish information to be shared widely at a particular point in time but if this is the case, the RIW panel members will clarify this at the beginning of a meeting and/or during discussions.
If you know of others who may be interested and have a personal or professional interest in respiratory health, please feel free to share this panel flyer with them – glossier version to follow. They can join at any time.
