Once they are appointed, your new chair is responsible for leading and facilitating the work of the Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP), working with other members of the service user leadership team and other core staff and service user MVP members and with support from the MVP link person/team. In the first few months your chair and service user leadership team will need support to get started in their roles. First steps are likely to include:
- Introduce them to key contacts in the MVP support team, the maternity commissioner and provider organisations, the Local Maternity System and any other statutory partners.
- Provide clear written information about any support that’s available to them from the partner organisations to help them in their roles. For example, this could include access to any IT systems, any local training courses they can attend, access to expertise or support functions, and any mentoring you have put in place for them.
National Maternity Voices has coproduced a suggested MVP Chair Onboarding Process which you may wish to refer to.