An examination of the NHS England Youth Forum.

The concept of a Youth Forum is now well recognised. The Northern Ireland Youth Forum has been acknowledged as one of the longest running within the United Kingdom [UK]; it was established in 1979 by the Department of Education and has continued to develop, having a very active membership (Northern Ireland Youth Forum, 2016). In 1999, a youth forum was held in The Hague to enable 132 young people, who represented 111 countries, to offer their thoughts and opinions to a range of key organisations (including the United Nations as well as governmental and non-governmental bodies) about areas such as health, human rights and education (Youth Forum, 1999). In the same year, UNESCO introduced their first youth forum event - this has since been held every two years at the headquarters in Paris; it is open to all young people and aims to provide:
“an innovative, ongoing opportunity for youth to work in dialogue with UNESCO, to shape and direct the Organization’s approach and to present their concerns and ideas to Member States.”
(http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/youth/youth-forums/)
There are now more than 620 youth councils and forums in the UK – these include those related to local government as well as Community, Borough and County Councils (National Health Service [NHS] England, 2015), thus enabling young people to be involved in a range of decision-making within the community in which they live. In order to allow young people to participate in decision-making about NHS strategies, and improve health services for them, the NHS England Youth Forum was established in 2014.
Research focus
This report summarises an evaluative mixed methods research study (entitled: An examination of the work of the National Health Service [NHS] England Youth Forum) that was commissioned by NHS England in July 2015 and undertaken by the An Examination of the NHS England Youth Forum: Executive Summary; September 2016 Page 1
University of Hertfordshire [UH] between July 2015 and September 2016; this work is Research Phase II, stages I and II; Research Phase I was completed in March 2015 (Whiting et al, 2015; 2016).
The overall aim of Research Phase II, Stages I and II was:
To utilise quantitative and qualitative data collection approaches to examine the role of the NHS England Youth Forum members and the strategies being used to influence service provision for children and young people.
In addition, the research team developed the following objectives and key questions in order to refine the focus of the project:
Research Phase II, Stage I objective:
To use Activity Logs to collect quantitative data relating to the activities undertaken by the NHS England Youth Forum members.
Research Phase II, Stage I key questions
• How many activities are being undertaken by the NHS England Youth Forum members?
• How much time is spent undertaking the activities?
• What types of activities are being undertaken?
• Where are the activities taking place?
• How much cost is associated with undertaking the activities?
Research Phase II, Stage II objective
To undertake qualitative data collection with the NHS England Youth Forum members to gain further insight into their role.
Methods
Information in this report is derived from both quantitative and qualitative data collection that was undertaken in two stages:
• Stage I: Quantitative data collection: Activity Logs that were completed by nine members of the NHS England Youth Forum;
• Stage II: Qualitative data collection: Semi-structured interviews with eight members of the NHS England Youth Forum.