We were delighted this week to submit our response to Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most, the Northern Ireland Executive’s consultation on its draft Programme for Government.
The publication of the Programme for Government is a positive step towards responsible governance in Northern Ireland – it is long overdue.
We commend the Executive for placing wellbeing at this new framework and we believe that the priorities it describes are recognisable and connected to day-to-day challenges affecting all levels of society.
In 2022, we began hosting large-scale roundtable conversations with service users and colleagues, people who are keenly aware of how holistic, high-level decision making and helps us in our mission of wellbeing for all. These Ideas Generator events have afforded participants the chance to engage actively in the Inspire community and approximately 450 attendees have already used their own stories to enhance our work.
Entitled “It Doesn’t Have To Be Like This. Let’s Change It”, our response represents views expressed during that two-year period of engagement. It amplifies the collective voice of individuals in every one of our services, a principal tenet of Inspire’s current strategic plan. In fact, much of it has been formulated by answers to two specific questions routinely posed during our Ideas Generator workshops: ‘What things are important to you?’ and ‘What do you want politicians to know about your lives?’
The feedback, together with the invaluable input of our Service User Reference Forum (comprising people from across our services), has allowed us to pinpoint five policies most crucial to those we support, policies that should feature within a ratified Programme for Government. These are:
- A fully funded Mental Health Strategy and Substance Use Strategy
- Better pay and conditions for the health and social care workforce
- An anti-poverty strategy, along with a review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments and the immediate restoration of the Winter Fuel Payment for all
- Access to affordable and appropriate housing
- An integrated, affordable and accessible community transport system for those who need it
This is their plan. This is our plan.
If would like to read it, click here. To hear more from our Service User Reference Forum, which met in late September to finalise the response, check out the video below.