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South West London Collaborative Commissioning

Extending reach by working with Healthwatch and grassroots

organisations

Kingston Health and Wellbeing Network12th April 2016

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Background

• NHS England has agreed to fund a grassroots engagement programme in south west London and Surrey Downs – to extend reach into seldom heard communities

• The total budget for this programme is £99k and our proposal has been accepted by NHS England

• We are working with the 7 local Healthwatch organisations and local grassroots organisations to deliver this programme

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The work aims to meet the following challenges

Our work was developed in response to a report from the London Health Commission which identified a number of challenges for the NHS engaging the public on service change:

• The NHS belongs to everyone but people don’t feel involved in it

• The system feels remote from those who use it • Important decisions are made in a ‘black box’ without

taking into account local views• Services have historically been designed by providers not

service users or front line staff• There are too few opportunities for citizens to shape NHS

strategy

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Underpinning principles

Our approach:

• Based on community development – to build and deploy community resources through working in partnership with the local voluntary sector

• Focuses on reaching diverse and seldom heard groups

• Aims to create meaningful discussions with range of people (broad and deep)

• Develops sustainable, continuous engagement, including local health champions and a regional ‘People’s Panel’

• Narrows the gap between patients and the public and healthcare services.

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How will we achieve this?Our aim is to extend our reach into local communities by working with the voluntary sector to develop conversations with seldom heard groups.

• Work with 7 local Healthwatch organisations and invite them to manage a pot of funding (£10k) that local grassroots organisations can apply for to run events/activities enjoyable to their population.

• Each Healthwatch organisation will use their connections and communication channels to promote this opportunity to local groups, particularly those groups with protected characteristics/seldom heard voices.

• People will be invited to continue to be involved, either by joining a new ‘People’s Panel’ for the programme or becoming ‘health champions’.

• The People’s Panel is likely to be a virtual group where we can discuss emerging issues and ideas with local people, acting as a sounding board for the programme.

• Health champions will be drawn from those groups unlikely or unable to participate in the Panel; they will be offered training and support to feed in directly.

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More about the events/activities

• The money is intended to fund a range of local events (for example: a dinner dance for older people with dementia, a homeless drop in, afternoon tea for a local elderly group, fun day for children and young people).

• During the events, we will have a dedicated slot to discuss local health issues and to listen to the views of those participating. We will inform the local CCG about each event to provide an opportunity to feed in. How we speak to people will vary depending on who they are.

• All feedback will be recorded and fed into the development of our strategy – helping to ensure patient voices are at the heart of service change

• We have agreed to allocate £10k per Healthwatch to fund an agreed number of activities per borough. The remaining £30k will be used to develop and invest in the ‘People’s Panel’.

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Where we are now

• Money has been received from NHS England (31/03/16)• Healthwatches have all signed up and are in the process of

invoicing us• Forward plans are being put together • Liaising with CCGs re dates and activities

In Kingston…• First event at the end of March. Photography exhibition

people who are homeless – plus focus group• Second event planned for the 22nd April with carers• Third event on 14th May – pampering day for people with

learning disabilities

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Thank youAny questions?