Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Cardiac Surgery Service User Group Role Description
Overview
Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death and disability in Belfast and Northern Ireland. Recent data shows that around 225,000 people are living with heart and circulatory diseases in Northern Ireland and Belfast has the highest death rate for heart and circulatory diseases for people aged under 75 years.
Belfast Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust, Cardiac Surgery Unit is a regional service for patients across Northern Ireland and is based in the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH), Belfast. The unit provides different heart surgery procedures for adults.
An independent external review of the Cardiac Surgery Unit was commissioned by the Department of Health which was completed at end March 2025. The review undertook to review patient safety and team working.
The report identified the Cardiac Surgery Unit was clinically safe, with excellent outcomes for patients, and the technical skills of the staff were recognised. This has also been confirmed by regional and national data (were the Trust is compared to other cardiac surgical units). Patient feedback is consistently positive ranging from 98-100% satisfaction with their care. The review did identify there were wholly unacceptable behaviours in a small number of staff which needed to be dealt with.
The report set out a number of recommendations for Belfast Trust to improve the overall Cardiac Surgery service. Belfast Trust has now established a programme of work to progress the recommendations arising from the report. As part of this work, the Trust is seeking to establish a Cardiac Surgery Service User Group to ensure that the voice of the service user is integrated into the improvement programme of work.
Cardiac Surgery Service User Group
The Trust will take forward the recommendations from the report through a Cardiac Surgery Steering Group. As part of this work a Service User Group will be established to support the implementation of the recommendations. The main areas for improvement include:
- Care pathways
- Communication
- Patient information
- Safety and service quality improvement initiatives
The Trust is seeking to engage service users and carers to get involved in the Cardiac Surgery Service User Group. This will be a newly established group which will input into the Cardiac Surgery Service Oversight Group who report to the Cardiac Steering Group to integrate the patient voice into this programme of work.
The Cardiac Surgery Service User Group will initially meet face to face on a monthly basis for a period of up to 2 hours. We will seek member input as to the best time of day to meet and suitability of on-line meetings and this will be reviewed after 6 months.
The Group will:
- Work respectively and collaboratively in partnership with others, respecting their views and opinions in open and honest discussion.
- Review documentation and comment/provide feedback from a service user and carer perspective. – Use information to identify priorities for patient experience improvements. – Contribute to the development/review of patient communication such as leaflets, discharge information and consent forms.
- Support wider involvement of service users and carers as identified, this may include, hosting focus groups, co-designing information, questionnaires etc.
As a member of the group, service user and carer members will be asked to:
- Attend Service User Carer Opportunity to Participate and Engage (SCOPE)
training to develop your knowledge about Belfast Trust and what it means to get involved. - Attend meetings on a monthly basis. Meeting dates will be agreed in advance
and initially take place in person but may move to on-line with group
consensus. - Undertake pre-reading information to support discussion at the meeting.
Meeting papers will be shared 5 working days in advance of meetings. - Input into the development of a Group terms of reference which will set out
how the group will operate which will include confidentiality.
Get involved
We are seeking service users or carers to get involved who:
- Have recent experience of cardiac services in Belfast Trust (within last 5 years) and have an interest in working with the Trust to improve services.
- Have a willingness and commitment to attend meetings.
- Can contribute to group discussion from a service user and carer perspective
and have an open mind and respect for others opinions. - Have the ability to see the ‘big picture’ so that your input can impact everyone and improve services for all users.
Knowledge of Personal and Public Involvement (PPI) would be helpful but not essential as support and identification of any training needs can be discussed and agreed.
Support for you if you decide to get involved
- Prior to attending meetings, we will provide an induction to:
- Belfast Trust and what it means to get involved
- Meet and hear from the Programme Leads who will meet with you to share information regarding the programme of work including background to the work, current structures and other helpful information to support your understanding and involvement in the group.
- The Divisional Nurses, will be the named point of contact within the Trust to support you. Pre and post meeting informal ‘catch up’ chats will be available to provide further support to you in this role.
- Out of pocket expenses will be paid in line with the Trust reimbursement guidance.
This work will be progressed in line with the Trust values which seek to embed a core set of leadership values and behaviours across the Trust. They set out and define everything we do – how we work with each other and deliver our service. The Values reflect our commitment to provide safe, effective, compassionate and person centred care.
We are hosting an Information session
If you are interested in getting involved:
- you may wish to join the Information session on
Tuesday 2nd September (6.30pm – 7.30pm via online) to hear more about the work. - complete an Expression of Interest by Monday 6th September
Complete the from below to register for the information session or submit your Expression of Interest.
Cardiac Surgery Service User Group Registration form
If you would like support to complete this form or require it in a different language, please contact the PPI team at:
Email: PPI@belfsttrust.hscni.net
Tel: 028 95045476
Further information regarding involvement is available on the Trust website at How to get involved | Belfast Health & Social Care Trust website