Sandy Watson on bringing young people to the NHS table

With this in mind, NHS Tayside formed a steering group including local young people. The group is now involved in frank and open discussions about youth healthcare needs.

In an earlier column, I stressed that community engagement was a fundamental part of community planning and that a combined top-down and bottom-up effort was central to the process.In its report Community Planning: an initial review, Audit Scotland indicates that the bottom-up part of the equation is less well developed, which I believe is particularly true of young people's involvement - these are not just the citizens of tomorrow, but also the citizens of today.

In Scotland, we have a commissioner for children and young people, Professor Kathleen Marshall, whose role involves:

• generating widespread awareness and understanding of the rights of children and young people;

• considering and reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of any law, policy and practice as it relates to the rights of children and young people;

• promoting best practice by service providers;

• commissioning and undertaking research on matters relating to the rights of children and young people.

In the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, she has declared herself as being interested in:

• best value decisions/allocation of resources;

• involvement of children and young people in community planning;

• consultation with young people regarding policy priorities.

Professor Marshall has also made it clear that she will ask public sector bodies to explain how they have taken the rights of young people into account when making particular decisions.

Involving the young

NHS Tayside has a strategic framework for engaging with patients and the public in the redesign and development of its services. It aims to ensure patients are at the centre of the care and services we provide and that we involve them, carers and the people of our communities in planning these services.Existing mechanisms include working with public partnership groups, consultation, survey work, public events and focus groups.

Engaging and involving young people is a challenge for Tayside - as it is for all public sector organisations - and although the structures already in place help to facilitate this, further work is needed. It has become clear through discussions with the Scottish Youth Parliament, Young Scot and Youthlink Scotland that engagement processes could be strengthened by more innovative ways of working to capture young people's ideas and comments.

In mid-2007, Dundee Youth Voice produced a manifesto for the young people of Dundee, entitled Not Just the Future, which sets out a list of priorities and issues already affecting young people, including drugs and alcohol, teenage pregnancy, sexual health, mental health and obesity.

Subsequently, representatives from Dundee Youth Voice, Dundee council, the Scottish Youth Parliament health committee, the Young People's Health Advisory Group and the NES public partnership forum for young people met NHS Tayside to discuss opportunities for young people to get involved in the NHS Tayside steering group for the engagement and involvement of children and young people.This group went on to develop a draft structure, which the board of NHS Tayside has agreed to work towards.

Engagement options

Since then, the steering group has met a number of times with members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, most recently with representatives from Dundee, Perth and Kinross, and Angus. Each area agreed to develop a list of local priorities and compile these into an action plan showing engagement options - such as podcasts - over the next six months.

NHS Tayside recognises the need for a flexible approach to allow productive and meaningful engagement. The proposed structure will be discussed at local events in autumn 2008. These events are being run in partnership with the three community health partnerships, local authority youth workers and young people.

Future meetings of the steering group will give a vehicle for frank and focused discussions on developing the Tayside Young People's Health Advisory Group. Specific work around the sexual health strategy review is already under way. Young people have been asked to suggest the questions they would like asked, and what their preferred mediums for engagement would be.

I have talked to many young people about their involvement in community planning and community engagement. One of the most powerful statements any of them has made was in response to the question: "What do you as a young person want out of this?" The answer was succinct: "We want to be involved in steering the boat as well as rowing it."

I would suggest that the NHS and public sector at large ignore this at their peril.