Bringing lived experience into commissioning
For the past two years, Revolving Doors has been working with commissioners from the NHS South West Health and Justice team on the recommissioning of their non-custodial services.
Non-custodial services are for people who are in the justice system but not currently detained in prison or another secure setting. They include:
- Liaison and Diversion – an early intervention service for people in contact with the justice system
- RECONNECT – a service that supports continuity of care for people leaving prison
- Mental health treatment requirements (MHTRs) – which offer courses of mental health treatment as part of someone’s sentence.
A group of six people with lived experience of repeat contact with the justice system formed a team with NHS commissioners. They unpicked what has and hasn’t been working across services, looking at what could be improved and problem-solved challenges together.
Integrating non-custodial services means that people in touch with the justice system will be better served by the health system. By getting services to work together and offer people the holistic support they need, this first-of-its-kind project opens up the opportunity for improved health outcomes, lower reoffending rates and better lives.
Using lived experience to shape services for the better
Lucy Woods is Revolving Doors’ Senior Involvement Manager and lead on the project. She said:
“At the beginning, there was nervousness from our members: would they be listened to, and would anything actually change? Through this process, the team have grown in confidence and a genuine sense of collaboration and mutual respect for each other’s knowledge has been established. We wanted to use this video to give members a platform to talk about the value of having their ideas shape services they have used for the better.”
Work with us
This video highlights the experiences of Revolving Doors members who worked directly with NHS commissioners. It shows the real power of joint commissioning, how it can work, why it matters and why it’s worth doing.
Revolving Doors is expert in bringing together lived and learned experience to offer an explorative, bespoke approach to every issue, and make the voices of those with lived experience pivotal in everything we do.
By harnessing the power of co-production, we reach communities and pick up insights that others miss. Our team of peer researchers have received OCN-accredited peer research training, offering them a meaningful role with broad benefits, including self-development, confidence and recovery. We also work with partners to train existing or previous clients in Level 2 Peer Research so they can bring their unique insights to our research.
We have a proven track record of sustainable, impactful research, proposing and designing policy and practice solutions with a deep understanding of the evidence base. By producing bold, workable, evidence-based recommendations, and conducting high quality research we enable our research and evaluation partners to better meet the needs of their own clients and we shape change across the system.
