Studies and Consultation

It is important that as many people as possible are able to express their views and feel their views have been taken into account and weighed against the views of others, when decisions are made which affect them.

It is recognised that communities are diverse: based on geographical areas and on different groupings and interest groups within society. Therefore it is important to develop approaches which are able to reach as many of these people as possible. No one method or person is able to seek the views of everyone!

It is also recognised that there are various forms of seeking views:

• consultation is about going out to seek views on a specific topic, so often a one-off exercise
• whilst involvement implies greater participation on the part of the service user, and is more about creating an ongoing dialogue and relationship between service provider and service user.

At different times, different forms of consultation will be required. However, ZetTrans recognises the value of ongoing involvement and will seek to develop this.

For clarity, consultation does not encompass exercises whose aim is either to inform people of a decision already made or to persuade them of the merits of such a decision. Such a process would constitute a one-way communication exercise that does not require feedback through a consultation process.