A NEW panel is being formed to allow former and current users of Jersey’s health services to give their views and recommend improvements.

Islanders are being asked to sign up for the Health and Community Services ‘patient and user public engagement panel’ to help shape the future of the department.

The panel will provide feedback and contribute ideas across a range of topics, through quarterly meetings and online.

Health Minister Karen Wilson said the launch of the panel was the ‘first in a series of new and exciting ways to engage Islanders in the work of the department’.

Deputy Wilson added: ‘Actively listening to people and hearing their experiences will help us shape and improve services for the better, and is critical to informing the delivery of care and services that Islanders want to see.’

Panel members must be 18 or over, be a permanent resident of Jersey, and have been a patient or carer for a patient in the past 18 months. They are asked to commit for at least a year. Membership will be rolling, with new members allowed to join at any time. For more information go to gov. je/PatientsPanel.