Partnership Boards

Partnerships Boards

What are Partnerships Boards?

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Partnership Boards give people with lived experience of using adult social care services a say on current and future care.

Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council pay Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to organise and develop five Partnership Boards locally.

Each Partnership Board is made up of:

• Service user representatives known as Independent Members (volunteers/people with lived experience)
• Voluntary sector service providers
• Statutory services, such as health and social care

The aim is for half of the members on each Board and every Chair to be health and/or adult social care service users.

What is the focus of each Partnership Board?

The five Partnership Boards are:

• Carers Partnership Board - Find out more
• Learning Disability Partnership Board (including autism services) - Find out more
• Older People's Partnership Board - Find out more
• Physical Disability Partnership Board - Find out more
• Sensory Impairment Board - Find out more

Each Board meets every two or three months and, in each case, they are chaired by an Independent Member (volunteers/people with lived experience). We accommodate all accessibility needs, e.g., speech to text, British Sign Language and Easy Read, etc.

How can I get involved?

If you have experience of using social care services, or experience of caring for someone who does, then you can join a relevant Partnership Board.  You can share your knowledge and understanding to help develop and improve local services. 

Want to know more before applying?

Read on to learn more about the work that each Partnership Board does and the part Independent Members (volunteers/people with lived experience) play in helping to improve adult social care services.

What is the role of the Partnership Boards? 

Everybody has the right to be involved in the decisions that affect their daily lives. The Partnership Boards help ensure that every voice is heard by social care service providers. Social care includes providing social work, personal care, protection or social support services to children or adults in need or at risk, or adults in need due to illness, disability, old age or poverty. 

Each Board’s role is to support and improve care for people who use health and adult social care services. They do this by involving some of the people who use these services in their design, delivery and evaluation.

Raising issues with adult social care

The Chairs of the Partnerships Boards attend the Adult Social Care Forum organised by Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, jointly chaired by the Heads of Adult Social Care Commissioning for both councils. This gives the Boards and other partner organisations a direct communication link with the adult social care senior management for both councils.

Supporting people

Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough organises the Board meetings and provides support and training to the Independent Members to help them in their roles.

The role of Independent Members (volunteers/people with lived experience)

Independent members use their lived experience to help improve how health and care services support older people, disabled people and carers. In their role, they tell NHS and local authority decision makers what is working and where care needs to be better.

Main activities of Independent Members

With support from our Partnership Development Manager and team of staff, Independent Members will:

• Attend Partnership Board meetings every two or three months, depending on the Board that you join.
• Act as a voice for people of lived experience of disability, who are older or are carers.
• Talk with people of lived experience (friends, colleagues, or at support and social groups) about the services they are receiving.
• Join focus groups and workshops to look in detail at issues. 
• Give out information about the Partnership Boards and Healthwatch in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Read the volunteer role description here

Independent Member volunteer role description:

Download (PDF 117 KB)

Please ask us if you need a copy of this in a different format. 

How we will support you in your role

We provide training, ongoing support and pay reasonable out of pocket expenses. 

This includes providing any communication support you may need, such as a British Sign Language interpreter or information in Easy Read. 

We'll make sure you know about things like our health and safety policies and give you training in listening skills and other areas as needed. 

Last year we were awarded the 'Investors in Volunteering' award for our commitment to supporting our volunteers.