Our Projects
Bee Counted
Bee Counted is an inspection process where young people review health services across Greater Manchester. To ensure health services are responsive to the needs of young people.
The Greater Manchester Youth Agreement (2018) sets out the expectations that young people have of their health services. This covers many areas of services, including how they capture and act on youth voice within delivery. Bee Counted was created to inspect services based on these standards, and offer recommendations for better practice.
Young people trained to inspect health services across Greater Manchester. They carry out pre visit checks with services, go and see where services are located and review how youth friendly they are. Young people create a final report to share with services which gives recommendations on ways services can improve their practice. This has helped embed youth voice into health services, and ensure that young people who access these services feel listened to.
The young inspectors have had the opportunity to speak with health practitioners from across Greater Manchester, hearing about their services and the impact of these for young people who access them. The influence of young people through this project is shown through the changes that services make as a result of the report and recommendations created by young people.
The reports that young people create through this process are shared with the services, as well as being circulated through higher level structures such as senior health boards. This is to showcase the work of the inspectors and also ensure accountability for the recommendations offered by the group for the services involved.
The young inspectors have had the opportunity to speak with mental health practitioners from across Greater Manchester, hearing about their services and the impact of these for young people who access them. The impact of the young inspectors is demonstrated through the changes that services make as a result of the report and recommendations created by young people.
Three of the inspectors were invited to share their experiences at the Greater Manchester Children’s Board, where they spoke to local leaders and decision makers about their role as inspectors and what they have learned about the process.
Working closely with the Greater Manchester Mental Health Board to report key findings and update on progress has given regular opportunities for commissioners to understand the impact of Bee Counted and the value of this programme on the development and integration of youth voice in a mental health context.
‘Being part of the Bee counted inspections was an amazing experience as it was an experience that not many other services could provide, it helped young people being able to give Health services written reports after being inspected which really helped me feel that my input was important. I really enjoyed doing the inspections themselves whether they were online or in person as everyone was really friendly, the Bee counted Inspections helped me grow even more confidence as at the start I was quiet and not sharing my ideas as much but as we did more inspections I was sharing more of my ideas’
Young people undertake training to become an inspector. Working in small teams young people from a range of lived experiences, visit specific services such as health clinics, National Funders, museums, youth provision to look at how effective services are for young people.
YFNW contributed to the creation of a National Young Inspectors Framework which contains guidance on the delivery of youth led inspections. It is written for any organisations or individuals who are interested in setting up youth led inspections as a method of youth participation. The aim of the document is to provide a broad set of guidance principles to help improve the quality and impact of youth inspection.
We offer a range of training packages for young people and services who want to undertake Young Inspector programmes, contact [email protected] for more details.
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