Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the views of service users are taken into account in the design of mental health services.

The Government recognises that the views of service users and people with lived experience are essential to the design and delivery of mental health services.

We are committed to working closely with experts by experience to ensure their perspectives are at the heart of our work. This includes shaping our new cross Government mental health strategy for England, which is being informed by a Call for Evidence, alongside targeted engagement on key policy topics, and meaningful engagement with people with lived experience.

As part of this wider programme of reform, the Severe Mental Illness Modern Service Framework is helping to put these principles into practice. We have established a third co-chair, Jo Lomani, a national mental health co-production lead and expert by lived and living experience. Jo has been brought on board to support the implementation of our lived-experience involvement and co-production strategy on the modern service framework, helping to ensure that people who use mental health services stay at the centre of everything we do.

More broadly, we are putting patient feedback and outcomes front and centre of mental health services, improving transparency and using people’s experiences to drive improvements in quality, safety and accountability.

Our reforms also support co production and person centred care, ensuring that people with lived experience are directly involved in the design and delivery of services. For example, community based models such as mental health centres and neighbourhood approaches bring together National Health Service, local authority, and voluntary sector partners, embedding collaboration with people with lived experience and local communities in service design and delivery.