Nationwide members have their say

Nationwide, FitzRoy’s national service user forum, met last week to discuss the aims of Nationwide and how to attract new members. The group all agreed that meeting people, making friends, building a community, sharing experiences, and coming up with new ideas together were really important parts of Nationwide and should be highlighted to anyone who might be interested in joining. They also discussed how new regional meetings should work, so that more people we support can get involved.

Kirsty Millward, Head of Quality at FitzRoy, said:

Amplifying the voice of the people we support is a core part of FitzRoy’s new strategy, and our Nationwide forum will be at that heart of that, ensuring our commitment to inclusion, co-production and seeing the person thread through everything we do.

“It’s always wonderful to see how enthusiastic Nationwide members are, and get their insights and feedback about their experiences of FitzRoy and how we are run. It was fantastic to have 50 people attend last week – the most ever! The new regional forums are a great opportunity for even more people we support have their say, so it was brilliant to hear exactly what the members think the new forums should look like, and what we need to tell their peers to inspire them to come along. We’ve taken on board the members’ suggestions, and hopefully their insights will pay off and lots of their peers will be inspired to join the regional forums.”

Last week’s Nationwide meeting was also a little poignant, as it was the last time Anna, our outgoing Chief Executive, would be attending. Anna was interviewed by a Nationwide panel before she took on the role of Chief Executive and Stephen, a long-established member of Nationwide, took the opportunity to say one last time: “I gave Anna that job you know!”

Kirsty added: “Two of our long-standing members, both called Stephen, have now interviewed both Anna and Angela, our new Chief Executive. They were joined on the panel this time by Luke, who started attending Nationwide late last year, so members old and new had their say about who they thought should be the next leader of FitzRoy.”

Luke said:

I enjoy going to Nationwide because I can be a voice and speak up for the people who go to the meetings that are unable to speak up for themselves. When I went to the last meeting there was a really good turnout, but so many of them are unable to be that voice or that person that can speak up. I feel that now I need to continue to advocate, as it’s so important to be heard. It was an honour to be on the interview panel for the new CEO and a fantastic experience. I think Angela will be good in the new role.