A GROUP giving young people in Worcestershire the chance to have their say on NHS services in the county is celebrating an extremely productive first year.

Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust’s Youth Board was set up last year to ensure young people have the opportunity to play a part in how health services are set up and run.

The board meets every two months and recently celebrated its first anniversary.

In its first 12 months the board has played a part in a range of initiatives including setting up a mental health subgroup and working towards creating a website especially geared towards young people.

Board member Sarah Rowe said: “The youth board has been a great experience and really helps with my confidence.

“It’s been nice to hear others views on many things.

“The support the board has given has been great as it has supported me in different situations”.

The trust’s community development officer Ahmed Hussain said the board was useful both for ensuring young people’s voices were heard as well as helping them develop their CVs.

“We are committed to effective and meaningful engagement with young people and we know young people often ask the questions or come up with the types of ideas we might not have even thought about,” he said.

“The youth board’s first year has been really successful and they have quickly made a valuable contribution to the trust and some of the decisions it’s taken.”

Anyone aged between 14 and 24 living in Worcestershire is eligible to join the youth board.

For more information email ahmed.hussain@hacw.nhs.uk.