I sat down with Abigail Metcalfe, youth chair of the Isle of Wight NHS Youth Forum, in hopes of getting an insight into this little-known part of the Island’s NHS Trust
The Isle of Wight NHS Youth Forum is a group of young people who work to champion the voice of young people who use NHS services on the Island. During the interview in respect to the work the forum does they told me;
“The Youth Forum was started on the Island because it was noticed that young people weren’t getting their voices heard and when the services are made for young people, it’s important that they are the people who are given the input […] we all have personal experience in one way or another within the services, so we attend the meetings with the knowledge of talking to peers and other groups outside the NHS and use that time to make sure young people are being heard by the people in charge”
When asked if they that the forum’s work is successful, I was told that they have seen a massive uptake in youth related services an engagement since the reintroduction of the Youth Forum after the pandemic, naming an example of the type of work the Youth Forum is involved with as the ongoing redevelopment work on the garden located within St Mary’s Children's Ward in collaboration with some charitable organisations on the Island, giving a quote on that objectives of the plan;
“[The aim is to] updo the garden space that was in children’s ward that was unfortunately due to building works and covid previously unusable, but now is a really nice open green space for those older children who are on children’s ward […] the previous resources available were aimed towards primary school children [with things like] toy slides and little fake bakeries, so now there is a space for older children”
In a written statement she also noted that the forum was behind the initiative to provide ear defenders and sunglasses to “help with the overstimulation that comes hand in hand with a hospital environment” and the introduction of “several new or improved young people’s right management services”
She went on to note that while the forum is currently at capacity in respect to it’s membership around September they will be looking to recruit new members to assist in the representation of young people within the NHS, noting that the forum meets bi-monthly.
