The Evaluation of Experts by Experience Programme

The Experts By Experience Programme

Experts by Experience are individuals who have personal experience of using or caring for people who use health and or social care services. They work with CQC inspectors on inspections of health and social care services and visits to monitor the use of the Mental Health Act. They can also take part in other aspects of CQCs work, such as developing effective methodologies

In the UK and elsewhere in Europe, people who have experience of using services are increasingly recognised as being able to make an important contribution to the design and delivery of those services. So, for example, people with a lived experience of mental health conditions, or caring for someone with long-term health problems can offer advice to decision-makers which is distinct from and may be complementary to professional views of how to deliver services. see: http://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/should-we-use-experts-experience-outside-health-and-social-care

In the Care Quality Commission, the Experts by Experience programme has been running for several years, employing the expertise of people with experience of using services, or caring for people who use services, in inspections, registration and Mental Health Act monitoring visits to ensure that we can include this perspective in our assessments and can effectively gather the views of people using the services we are assessing in our reports.

Experts take part in inspections of health and social care services as members of the inspection team and also in our other statutory functions such as registration and monitoring the application of the Mental Health Act. They are also involved in a range of other activities such as helping us to develop our ways of working, co-producing public information, taking part in events and consultations, CQC staff training, local and national media. We currently work with around 500 Experts by Experience and with a number of national and local support organisations. Support organisations play a crucial role in the programme, recruiting Experts on our behalf, offering appropriate training, undertaking DBS checks and supporting Experts in their work for CQC. The Commission has called for expressions of interest in a re-tendering process to identify support organisations to continue the programme. The re-tendering process is scheduled to begin in April 2015.

During our inspections, Experts spend time talking to people who use the service and observing the environment. Their first-hand experience of receiving care enables them to gather evidence to help us assess the quality of care from the perspective of people using services. Their findings are used to support the inspection team’s judgments on the quality of care provided by a service and can also be included in the inspection report.