Service user involvement in the governance of Mental Health NHS FTs
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating service user involvement in the governance of Mental Health NHS Foundation Trusts: a case study.
IRAS ID
200157
Contact name
Hayley Smith
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
LSHTM
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 15 days
Research summary
This research will be undertaken for the award of a PhD.
I am conducting research to investigate the governance of Mental Health NHS Foundation Trusts. The research study is concerned with the introduction of service user involvement to governance processes, specifically in the context of involvement on the Council of Governors. There are a variety of rationales for service user involvement the governance of Mental Health NHS Foundation Trusts, and service user involvement in Foundation Trust governance is currently a government policy requirement.
The purpose of the study is to better understand the role and motivations of service users and other stakeholders in relation to service user involvement. I am interested in finding out about the perceptions of the various stakeholders with regard to the rationales for service user involvement in the governance of Mental Health NHS Foundation Trusts. I also want to better understand the role of the service user governors, both officially and in practice.
I plan to undertake this research as a case study in a single Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust site (The Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust). I would like to interview a small number of senior managerial staff, as well as service user, lay and staff members of the Council Governors, and conduct service user focus groups. Additionally I hope to observe meetings relating to the Council of Governors and service user involvement within the Foundation Trust. Further to this I hope to interview representatives of external stakeholders such as the Local Authority and mental health organisations.
This project is funded through a Bloomsbury Colleges PhD Studentship supervised by Dr Pauline Allen (LSHTM) and Dr Sue Konzelmann (Birkbeck). It will be disseminated in a thesis format as well as in academic journals.
REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NE/0134
Date of REC Opinion
13 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion