Public Engagement Network
Learn more about how you can engage with CQC, network with other organisations and receive support from our team
From networking with other organisations to receiving support for individuals, there are a variety of ways you can get involved in our network.
We work flexibly to best meet your needs in the following ways:
CQC meetings offer you the opportunity to engage directly with Care Quality Commission (CQC). They provide information from CQC whilst enabling you to input your ideas and insights to help shape their work.
They are held on an ad hoc basis in line with developments within CQC.
Previous topics have included CQC’s development of a feedback loop, intermediate care, and accessibility of CQC’s engagement.
Our bimonthly drop-in meetings offer a space for you to network with other PEN members and to promote your current or upcoming projects and/or research with them.
Meetings are themed around broad topics within health and social care that affect the diverse range of people represented by our members.
Held online via Zoom, they will be open to all PEN members so you can network with groups and organisations who represent diverse communities across England.
Hosted by our Community Engagement Officers, Focus Groups enable us to hone in on specific areas of peoples’ lived experiences of health and social care. We may focus on a local area, a specific type of health and social care service, or a protected characteristic.
This means that you can participate in in-depth discussions and network more closely with groups and organisations similar to your own.
The people you support and work with are also welcome to join so we can hear their insights into health and social care services.
The feedback we gather at Focus Groups may be passed on to CQC, unless individuals prefer for us not to.
We can attend one-off events and regular meetings hosted by our members to engage directly with people who use health and care services.
We can also set up meetings specifically for the purpose of hearing from the people you support.
These can be both in-person and online meetings.
We can contribute to room booking costs, refreshment costs or other areas to help support any meetings we attend. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this with a member of our team.
If you have feedback on care or an issue you would prefer to discuss with us privately, you are welcome to join a one-to-one meeting with us.
We can speak with you over the phone or on an online platform upon request.
Please contact us if you would like us to set up a one-to-one meeting with you.
We can signpost individuals to CQC’s give feedback on care form and provide assistance with completing it.
A member of our team can speak to individuals over the phone or on an online platform about their experiences of health and social care. We can then pass their feedback to CQC and track how their information has been used.
For support on individual feedback, please contact us.
If you want to feature your stories, campaigns or to promote your organisation in our newsletter or on PEN’s social media pages, please get in touch with Brittany, our Communications Officer, at publicengementnetwork@choicesupport.org.uk or call 07759841771.
The Public Engagement Network's Advisory Group enables autistic people and people with learning disabilities to come together to share their experiences and opinions of health and social care.
A wide range of topics are discussed at Advisory Group meetings, including accessibility, receiving care, and giving feedback on health and care services.
I’ve found PEN meetings really useful because I get to meet other people working to improve life for marginalised people. This has helped me to understand the healthcare experiences and needs of a wider range of people, which is important for working in a truly intersectional manner. It’s been important to talk about trans people’s healthcare experiences and to support the CQC to understand trans people’s healthcare needs and their (all too frequent) experiences of poor practice. Chay Brown (he/him), Director of Operations + Director for Healthcare at TransActual. TransActual is a trans led and run advocacy, education and empowerment organisation. They’re working for a world where trans people can live safely, with dignity and with appropriate access to healthcare.
