Hear my voice - video series

Expert by Experience Anna:

“Thank you for everything, it’s been the opportunity of a life time and I’ve loved it! The moment everyone waved at me made me feel AMAZING I was grinning from ear to ear the whole event and that moment that you made me so involved and the whole room waved to me, it really touched me. The way you met my needs so well and I got every opportunity the in-person people got, it meant more than you’ll ever know and I hope you know just how much it meant and how grateful I am."

Annie Britton Cheshire East Participation Lead:

Cheshire East Council are thrilled to have worked collaboratively with the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership on "Hear My Voice" ensuring that the voices and lived experiences of children and young people are at the heart of all we do." 

Cheryl Simpson MBE - Co-Founder and CEO, Space 4 Autism:

“After watching all these fantastic films, I can honestly say these will be so helpful for anyone who wants to understand ASC a little more.  They are brilliantly filmed, edited and the content is perfect and very easy to understand. I hope these will be shared far and wide and congratulations to all involved.”

Jenny Scott, Associate Director of Commissioning, Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

"Working in partnership with experts by experience, particularly our young people, is both a privilege and profoundly inspiring. The young people in these films share their experiences on what has helped them when they are struggling with their feelings with honesty and humanity. Through these films, they have given us an invaluable resource to use in the support and training of other people for which we are deeply grateful."

Madeleine Lowry, Associate Director, Learning Disabilities, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and Aquired Brain Injuries, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust:

“The ‘Hear My Voice’ video series provides a unique look into the lives of everyone involved, including people with lived experience, professionals, parents and carers. The level of co-production involved makes the videos authentic, empowering, and helps us increase awareness and understanding of learning disabilities and autism.”

Young People

• Aaron
• Aiden
• Amadi
• Alfie
• Chloe
• Anna
• Daniel
• Ethan
• Harvey
• Harley
• Isabelle
• Jake
• James
• Luke
• Rachel
• Tommy
• Will

Young Carers

• Jasmine
• Matthew

Parent Carers

• Debbie
• Danielle – Cheshire East Parent/Carer Forum
• Freya

Clinicians

• Ben
• Sheryl
• Molly

Clinical Leads

• Children and Young People Urgent Support Team
• Children, Young People & Families Care Group
• Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Professional

• Phil Morris - Director of Specialist Communication Techniques

Project Team

• Level Up Lead Provider Collaborative
• Cheshire and Wirral NHS Partnership Trust
• Fiona Jenkins – Head of Experts by Experience (EbE)
• Dave Williamson – Communications Manager
• Gill Faulkner - (EbE) Administration Manager
• Paula Almeida - (EbE) Project Manager

• Catherine Rudd & Claire Evans, Children, Young People & Families Care Group, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Jigsaw SEND Youth Forum Cheshire East Council

• Sophie Dambok

• Cheshire East Participation Worker

• Rachel Lawton

• Senior Youth Support Worker

• Carrie-Anne Charlesworth

• Senior Youth Support Worker​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Films by:

• Dynomite Productions

Following a long campaign led by Oliver McGowan’s mother Paula McGowan OBE, HEE and partners at DHSC, NHS England and Skills for Care launched The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism elearning.

Oliver McGowan was a bright, kind and happy young man with a mild learning disability and autism. Oliver tragically died on 11 November 2016 in an NHS hospital and his death shone a light on the need for health and social care staff to have better training in understanding, communicating with and treating people with a learning disability and autistic people.

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training aims to provide the health and care workforce with the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning disability. This requirement is set out in the Health and Care Act 2022.

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training has been co-produced, trialled with over 8300 health and care staff and independently evaluated by NDTi. It has been designed in two tiers so all staff working across all CQC registered services receive the right level of mandatory training. The elearning is the first part of The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training and everyone in health and care needs to do this no matter where they work and what tier of training they need to complete.

Later staff will need to complete their training by attending either a one hour online interactive session (for Tier 1) or a one day face to face training (for Tier 2) that will be available from early 2023.

HEE is currently working with partners to ensure each Integrated Care Board (ICB) is being supported to develop training capacity.

Research has shown that on average, people with a learning disability and autistic people die earlier than the general public, and do not receive the same quality of care as people without a learning disability or who are not autistic. We want and need to change this.

We need to do everything in our power to prevent a story like Oliver’s from having to be told again and launching the training is a vital step to help us all achieve this.

For further information, please visit The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism webpage