The first Parent and Carer Forum was recently held at CRH for the parents and carers of children and young people who use any of our services.

There were discussions around different topics to gather feedback in order to help improve our services. Topics discussed include:

• Martha's Law
• The Children and Young People's Trust-wide strategy
• CHFT Charity's Ray of Sunshine Campaign for Children and Young People
• Visiting times
• Information leaflet for families attending the ward
• Sophie's legacy

From these discussions parents and carers were able to make the following suggestions:

• Teenage room to be made accessible for inpatients. Colleagues in paediatrics are now looking to re-organise office area to make the teenage room more accessible.
• For Martha's rule, parents and carers were keen for information to be given via a leaflet upon admission, which contains contact details.
• Suggestions for minor changes and additions to be made to the A - Z leaflet, which will be actioned.

Paediatric Matron, Fiona Stuttard, said: "There was such a positive buzz in the room for our first Parent and Carer Forum. We explored a wide range of current topics together. It was great to have local families and our colleagues working together."

One of the parents in attendance said: "It was a great session with such remarkable and inspirational NHS staff and other parents."

The attendees were all keen to be invited back to the next session, taking place in a few months' time.