It’s important that when you take part in HRA activities you feel respected and valued for who you are and what you bring to the organisation. Together, we can make our work respectful, inclusive and useful.
Working together respectfully
To make sure everyone’s lived and professional experience is equally valued, we should all:
- be aware of making assumptions about others
- recognise difference and power imbalances – our perspective as patients may be different from our perspectives as practitioners or community members
- respect the viewpoints of others, and understand that people are speaking from their own individual experience
- respect confidentiality – please check before sharing information outside of meetings, events, focus groups etc
- focus on what someone is trying to say rather than the words they use to say it
- get in touch with us if something difficult has come up that you would like to discuss
Working together inclusively
We want to make sure the way we work is accessible and inclusive to all. In your work with us, you can expect us to:
- communicate clearly
- give you time and information to prepare when working with us, for example, we send documents out at least one week before meetings wherever possible
- send out documents in an accessible format where possible and in alternative formats where needed as a reasonable adjustment
- pay reasonable expenses and offer payments to support public involvement (find out more about expenses and payments on our HRA Community ways of working page)
- ask if you have any needs, requirements or reasonable adjustments and do what we can to overcome barriers that prevent participation
- hold most meetings on Zoom, with closed captions (subtitles) and a live transcript
- facilitate meetings that are respectful, welcoming and safe
- plan regular comfort breaks in meetings and encourage you to turn off your camera if you need to
- let you know when meetings are being recorded
- identify accessible venues and travel if arranging face-to-face meetings
- support you to access equipment for online meetings
- make sure an HRA staff member is on hand for a ‘de-brief’ after a meeting or event
We value your support in helping our work to be inclusive and accessible, and together we should all:
- be open and honest
- explain abbreviations and specialist language
- don’t expect that other people know about the same things that you do, but recognise that they will be able to understand if you explain them in an accessible way
- understand that some people may feel more confident - make space so we can hear from everyone
- politely ask people to explain if what they are saying is not clear to you
- welcome all questions and comments, even if, or especially, when they challenge us
We know more can be done to be truly accessible and inclusive. If you have any suggestions for how we can improve, please get in touch with your HRA staff member contact.
You can find a handy list of contact details on our HRA Community ways of working page.
Working together usefully
It’s essential that the work we do makes the best use of everyone’s time and public money. In order to improve and develop the way we all work together, please:
- understand the requirements of your role or involvement with the HRA, so you can make an informed decision about getting involved
- prepare in advance for meetings when required
- think of and be open to new ways to address challenges and issues
- be generous in sharing and listening to ideas
- understand if someone asks you to stay on topic
- be open to challenge from others, and challenge yourself