NHS Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group Summary report of Stakeholder Events Have Your Say 16 th 18 th July 2013
HAVE YOUR SAY EVENT SUMMARY REPORT Introduction As part of the NHS reforms set out by the Government in Liberating the NHS: Equity and Excellence, from April 2013 Clinical Commissioning Groups took on the statutory responsibilities for commissioning health services following the abolition of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). Wiltshire CCGs vision is providing a health service which is high quality, effective, clinically led and local. The focus of delivering care to people in their own homes or as close to home as possible is of paramount importance to the CCG. Our ambition is to be one of the best Clinical Commissioning Groups in the country, with a reputation and reliability for understanding what really matters to our patients, the public and local communities. We intend to forge strong, sustainable relationships with our stakeholders and the local population, and actively work in partnership and collaboration with them to influence, shape and develop the way services are designed and delivered to achieve the best possible outcomes for the population of Wiltshire. Our decisions will be clinically led and locally focused and influenced by service users and we will be accountable and transparent in all we do. Engagement Activity In order to make commissioning decisions that reflect the needs, priorities and aspirations of the local population, Wiltshire CCG will have to engage the public in a variety of ways, openly and honestly. We will need to be proactive in seeking out the views and experiences of the public, patients, their carers and other stakeholders, especially those least able to act as advocates for themselves. Wiltshire CCG has developed a Communications and Engagement Strategy in order to set out and deliver an effective process and plan for engaging with stakeholders as part of their commissioning role. These events were the first key stages in making this strategy a reality. These first set of events were held for members of the public to help them (our stakeholders) understand who Clinical Commissioning Groups are and what they do and how they, as individuals or a representative of an organisation/group, can become involved in supporting decisions made about healthcare in Wiltshire.
Summary of events Invitations to the events were distributed to third sectors organisations, Healthwatch Wiltshire, local councillors, GP member practices and included Patient Participations Groups and Health and Social Care Forums. The events were also advertised through local media and placed on Wiltshire CCGs website. The events were well attended, with 84 attendees signing. Calne was attended by 18, Melksham 36 and Salisbury 30 with attendees who came from a variety of community groups, patient participation groups, voluntary organisations and public service organisations and as service users. The aims of the events were to: Introduce the Clinical Commissioning Group and inform stakeholders of who the CCG is, what we do and what we are responsible for To give them an understanding of what commissioning is and how the process works To highlight key areas that the commissioners will be concentrating on based upon Wiltshire s health needs Share proposals on the community transformation project to provide more community based healthcare services in Wiltshire To ensure involvement and engagement of public and partners with Wiltshire CCG Stakeholder events: Three stakeholder events were held in July on the following dates: Tuesday 16 th July - 2pm until 4.30pm Calne Masonic Hall, Stanier Road, Porte Marshe Estate, Calne, SN11 9PX Wednesday 17 th July 9.30am until 12noon The Shaw Country Hotel, Bath Road, Melksham, SN12 8EF Thursday 18 th July 10am until 12.30pm The Guildhall, Market Place, Salisbury, SP1 1JH The events were attended by one or more GP member, supported by a Group Director and the agenda format was designed to prompt questions and discussions throughout the events as well as providing information on the CCG through presentations. The presentation and discussions emphasised how committed local GPs are to improve services for patients. It emphasised the close working relationship GP members have with the CCG and the three locality areas and how this has already been able to deliver changes to services that are only possible by clinical leadership. For example, GPs have been working very closely to enable dementia diagnoses to now be facilitated through GP appointments. After the mid-event refreshment break the second part of the events discussed how the CCG want to encourage the involvement of patients into the decision making process that takes place within the CCG with the key objectives of: How do the resident of Wiltshire want to hear about the work that is being carried out and how to become involved in this work.
Some key messages that emerged from the events were: The importance of effective communication including the provision of accessible information about services some of the recent developments and changes were not familiar to attendees Having services were are accessible to local people, including care closer to home The need to commission services which are patient-centred and of high quality A commitment to continual and meaningful engagement with patients and the wider local community, including being transparent about decision making and feedback back on actions taken and why Attendees welcomed the opportunity to meet the GP and understand what their roles are within the CCG some concern was raised about access to GPs if they are busy involved in CCG work Easy read communication for people with Learning Difficulties and when doing activities longer time needed for them to complete tasks Many people commented feeling more confident and trusting of the CCG after meeting members and felt confident that they had the patients wellbeing at heart Information distributed by the CCG would need to be multi-layered to accommodate the different target audiences from those with little or no knowledge to those who have a better understanding of the workings of the CCG Need to look at communicating through different mechanisms than just the usual format of leaflets, newsletters, press releases, website Event evaluation feedback Feedback was gathered by encouraging attendees to complete the feedback forms before they exited the event and verbal feedback was also gathered by members of staff. As part of the feedback attendees were asked if the topics covered at these events were useful and improved their understanding of the CCG. A high majority of attendees found the information from presentations and group discussions at the events very useful and said that it gave them a better understanding of the CCG. Feedback was also gained on the venue of the events and although all three locations were suitable for the purpose of the events, some comments were raised: Calne location was isolated so not suitable for getting passing footfall into the event Melksham was not enough adequate parking, including disabled parking, and screen was not very visible for attendee s seated at the back of the room. Salisbury Acoustics of the room made it impossible to hear speakers at time, even though speakers were wearing microphones.
Attendees were asked on what topics they would like to be updated and informed at future events: Long term illness care i.e. diabetes, heart disease Prevention of ill health and promoting wellbeing Details of lead clinician on autism and future position of autism provision National tariff and financial information on how the CCG spend Hearing aids using local servicing clinics in Wiltshire Better knowledge and understanding of CCG and acute hospitals statistics Progress update on the work of the CCG, including clear understanding of how changes are evolving Primary health care for a healthy lifestyle from 0 100+ Roll out of Community Transformation Hospital discharge and carer involvement Learning disability Development of medical services in local areas Mental Health Third sector organisations working with CCGs to deliver services How the care co-ordinators will work Patient experience Access to services Care of elderly Attendees were given the option to let us know if they want to be more involved in the work of the CCG and a majority of them said they would like to be involved, especially at the early stage in the process of re-design of services. Other feedback received from attendee s covered: Need to promote events wider for greater awareness which will lead to higher attendance Limited time and difficult to hear on occasions too many people speaking at once Credible and subject expert speakers made the presentations interesting to hear Format of the event needs to take into consideration attendees, e.g. learning difficulties Do presentations to frontline staff, e.g. acute hospitals Next steps These events were the first in a series of events that Wiltshire CCG will be undertaking, and the next events are scheduled for later this year in late October/early November. We understand that not everyone can attend events during the day and we will look to hold future events on different days, including a Saturday and at different times and venues, to ensure we engage with as many people as possible. The feedback from these events will be used to inform the CCG ensuring it is best placed to involve patients in decisions and respond appropriately to the needs of patients and the public in Wiltshire. Future events will be held to report progress back to stakeholders and provide more detailed information about the commissioning intentions.