Jill Mulelly, senior engagement specialist from South West London Collaborative Commissioning looks at extending reach by working with Healthwatch and other grassroots organisations.

1. South West London Collaborative Commissioning
1
Extending reach by working with
Healthwatch and grassroots
organisations
Kingston Health and Wellbeing Network
12th April 2016

2. 2
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

3. 3
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

4. 4
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.

5. 5
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.

6. 6
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’.

7. 7
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

8. 8
Thank you
Any questions?