Earlier this year, Advonet and CHANGE started work on the Restraint, Seclusion and Segregation (RSS) Project. The overall aim is to hear people’s stories about their experiences in health and care settings, and support these experts by experience in producing an independent report with recommendations about RSS.
The project will form part of the Department of Health-commissioned review into the use of RSS.
Our project has three main aims. They are:

Hearing your stories

Firstly, the project wants to attract people with lived experience of RSS to tell their stories. We will be able to send a consent form and guiding questionnaire to anyone who wants to be involved, and we can invite people to be interviewed (with support if needed) or participate in whatever other way they prefer.
The consent form and questionnaire will be available soon.

Set up a user-led group to lead the project

The project aims to recruit around 8-12 people with lived experience of RSS to sit on our user-led group and steer the independent report. They will meet 3-4 times throughout October and November, to look at stories, discuss themes, and make recommendations.
If you would like to join the group or more information on how to get involved, we will have information out soon.

Meet with the Expert Advisory Group

The RSS Project aims to offer people with lived experience of RSS the opportunity to attend meetings of the Expert Advisory Group, who are working with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on the review of RSS. We will support people to travel to London and tell the panel their stories directly.

Project leaflet

CHANGE have produced a leaflet about the RSS Project in Easy Read. It talks about what RSS is, what the project will do and how to get involved. You can download a copy by clicking on the button at the end of this blog post.
For further information or any enquiries, please contact us by email at [email protected] or by phone on 0113 244 0606 and asking for Ellen.

RSS Project Information Booklet