Lived Experience Practitioner (commissioning)

NHS; Poole; Remote; GBP 20,000 - 32,000; Part time

Job summary

Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Lived Experience Practitioner to empower patients with voice and influence in care decisions. The role involves leading engagement workshops, supporting service development through personal experiences, and requires effective communication skills. Flexible part-time position, primarily home-based, with expectations for presence across various locations.

Qualifications

• Lived experience of recovery from a mental health condition.
• Experience of adult eating disorder services as a service user.
• Experience of prioritising and organising workload effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead on the delivery of engagement workshops and training with service users.
• Collaborate with FREedOM PC Providers for best practices.
• Promote innovative ways to improve experiences of eating disorder services.

Skills

Communication

Organizational skills

Co-production principles

Data evaluation

Education

Educated to degree level or equivalent lived experience

Good level of education including English and Maths at GCSE level or equivalent

Job description

Go back Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust

Lived Experience Practitioner (commissioning)

The closing date is 03 July 2025

Do you have lived experience of recovery from an eating disorder? Do you want to shape how our patients voices are heard? The FREedOM Provider Collaborative are looking for a Lived Experience Practitioner to join our small, friendly, and supportive team.

The Provider Collaborative recognises that the Lived Experience Practitioner role is fundamental in ensuring that service users, their families and carers are at the heart of, and have a voice in, the decisions that are made about their care. Your voice and views will be valued, we actively encourage to hear new ideas and innovations.

Under the guidance of the Quality and Safeguarding Lead and with support from the commissioning team, you will work collaboratively with experts by experience (EBE) and colleagues through models and techniques of participation. You will play an integral role in supporting, developing and embedding co-production principles across the Provider Collaborative and will contribute to the development and implementation of participation and experience plans.

The Lived Experience Practitioner role is a permanent part time post consisting of 30 hours and we would be flexible with how these hours are met. There is an expectation of having a presence across our PC sites, so being a driver is essential for the role. Fundamentally the role is based working from home.

Main duties of the job

With support, to lead on the delivery of engagement workshops, training and activities with service users, carers, families and staff to support our service development and quality oversight work.

With support, to organise own workload using independent judgement to prioritise required tasks and duties.

To collaborate with FREedOM PC Providers to establish best practice approaches to service user engagement, which may include face to face or virtual workshops for individuals or groups, and research activities such as surveys.

Establish good levels of communication/liaison with all team members, disciplines and other services in a professional manner.

To guide and inform the implementation of FREedOM PC's clinical model through personal experience and through collaboration with service users and carers, ensuring that the voice of service users and carers are central to the clinical model.

Across the PC's footprint you will promote innovative and creative ways of working to improve the experience of those who use adult eating disorder services across Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and their carers and family members.

The successful candidate must be willing and able to undertake training relevant to the role and service needs

About us

At Dorset HealthCare we're on a mission to empower people to make the most of their lives through our outstanding, joined-up healthcare services. We're a dynamic, forward-looking Trust, running 12 community hospitals, specialist inpatient facilities and a wide range of integrated community and mental health services for a population of almost 800,000 people.

We do things differently here - it's one of the reasons the CQC rated us 'outstanding' in 2019. It's also why 95% of patients across our services say they have a good or very good experience of our services and 89% of staff feel they can really make a difference. Whether you're looking to work with us in one of our bustling market towns, vibrant urban locations, thriving seaside spots, or among the rolling hills of Dorset, there are lots of ways you can make a difference in our communities.

Our 7,000-strong workforce is at the heart of what we do and our success is a testament to our brilliant people. We're all about building a workplace for the future, we believe in equal opportunities and we celebrate diversity. We're an inclusive workplace, where everyone is welcome, everyone can be authentic, and we are all encouraged to be the best version of ourselves.

Working with us you'll be part of a strong team, challenge yourself, build a career, and teach us what we don't know. And you'll be working towards our vision to be better every day through excellence, compassion and expertise in all we do.

Job responsibilities

For the main duties and responsibilities for this role please read the attached job description and person specification. When completing your application please ensure your supporting statement reflects the criteria set out in these documents by showing how your experience and skills apply to this post.

As part of our vision to have a skilled, diverse and caring workforce, Dorset HealthCare offers support for people getting into work. We offer an employability service to support individuals with application writing, interview skills and other employment support. If you would like or know of anyone who would value this support, please do contact [e-mail]

Person Specification

BUSINESS TRAVEL

• Subject to the provisions of the Equality Act, able to travel using own vehicle on Trust business.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND TRAINING

• Educated to degree level or equivalent lived experience
• Sound knowledge of the principles of coproduction
• Good level of education including English and Maths at GCSE level or equivalent, or NVQ Level 3 or equivalent
• Be able to recognise what good practices and services look like

JOB SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE

• Lived experience of recovery from a mental health condition
• Experience of adult eating disorder services as a service user
• Able to discuss, present and listen to emotionally difficult or distressing material, maintain own wellbeing with the support of the wider team and leadership where needed.
• Experience of co-production and or peer support
• Experience of prioritising and organising workload effectively

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/RESOURCES

• Able to evaluate data and produce reports using Microsoft Excel and Word

PERSONAL QUALITIES/ATTRIBUTES

• Able to communicate effectively at different levels of the organisation and with staff, patient/service users, visitors or external organisations both verbally and in writing in the exchange of complex, sensitive or contentious information which may require the use of negotiating and/or persuasive skills.
• Able to analyse and assess situations and to interpret potentially conflicting situations and determine appropriate action, where there is a range of options and judgement is required.
• Ability to evaluate care leading to improvement in quality standards and service improvement

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Demonstrable skills in written and spoken English to a standard which enables the post holder to carry out the full range of duties and responsibilities of the role effectively.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name

Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust