Involving people

Listening to the views of the people who matter – the people we support and their families, our tenants, our staff and our commissioners – underpins everything we do.

We use the feedback we receive to shape and develop how we deliver support, sharing examples of best practice and ensuring practice leadership in our sector.

Involving the people we support

The voice of the people we support is expressed locally, through Everybody Counts groups and, nationally, through the Dimensions Council.

The Dimensions Council is made up of representatives from the people we support, along with two tenant representatives. Their elected chair, David, – works with a co-opted Board member to manage meetings and share feedback.

Everybody supported by Dimensions can attend their local Everybody Counts group. Here, the people we support meet to raise issues important to them. Whether local, national or organisational, all issues raised are discussed and addressed with staff.

Both groups influence the organisation’s decisions, policies and priorities, sharing themes and concerns at Board level.

Watch the video below to see what the Council got up to in 2022:

 Experts by experience

Around 50 people we support are also paid to be quality consultants (experts by experience) – getting involved in everything from quality checking our services to supported interviewing and induction training for all our employees.

Quality Consultants accompany Dimensions’ internal auditors on their regular inspections of services. As experts by experience, they often pick up things that the auditors cannot.

Working Together for Change

We gather feedback from all our stakeholders in a number of ways – for example:

• continually and informally through meetings, staff appraisals and service visits
• person-centred reviews
• local family and friends forums
• our Everybody Counts groups
• the Dimensions Council
• annual surveys of family & friends, tenants and colleagues

Themes and issues from these channels are fed back to the executive team and Board. All of these processes come together to form our continuous ‘Working Together for Change’ programme.

Listening and Learning Report

We strive to be an organisation that reflects and responds to the diverse range of communities in which we work.

We take action as a result to plan for the future, improve how we work and make continuous improvements in everything we do.

It is also important to us to be transparent about the feedback we receive. This document briefly summarises findings from our most recent surveys and indicates some of the actions we’re taking as a result.

See the results in our Dimensions Listening and learning report 2020-21