Involving service users in the recruitment of mental health staff: the Service User Informed Tool for Staff Selection (SUITSS)

Abstract

Aims and methodService user involvement in the development of services is a fundamental aim of the National Health Service (NHS). However, a structured and quantifiable approach to their involvement in the recruitment of NHS staff is still lacking. In this study, we used service-user focus groups within a therapeutic community for people with personality disorder in order to develop the Service User Informed Tool for Staff Selection (SUITSS).ResultsWe enabled service users to develop SUITSS as a Likert scale with which to define relevant staff characteristics and rate applicants according to them, informing the staff-selection process. The tool has a semi-quantitative format that allows to test whether applicants with higher ratings are actually appointed by selection panels or not.Clinical implicationsThis new tool provides an approach to enhancing service user contributions to staff recruitment. It may be adapted and refined for use in a range of services, with local input from service users, following the approach described here.

Co-production in the recruitment of frontline public service employees

“…The first literature stream focuses on specific scenarios, such as mental health or disability services, where one social worker is often recruited to work with one or a small group of public service users (Baxter et al, 2017). The findings show that users can help in defining applicants' required skills and competencies during the pre-recruitment stage (Hurtado et al, 2014), be part of the selection panel during the interview and selection process (Sánchez-Bahíllo et al, 2012) and contribute to the assessment of a candidate's skills (Foster et al, 2007). These practices are also common in the education sector, where student panels are appointed, for example, to attend and evaluate trial lectures delivered by potential job candidates.…”