Communications and Consultation Plan

Shropshire Local HealthWatch commissioning

Project background

The Health and Social Care Bill 2011 proposes that Healthwatch will be the new consumer champion for both publicly funded health and social care.

Local Healthwatch goes to the heart of the government’s ambition for a health and care service that is centred on patients and users. Local Healthwatch will gather people’s (whether current users of services or not) views on, and experiences of, the health and social care system. In this way, community views will have real influence with those who commission and provide services about what users, carers and citizens need and want from them. This can help them to be more responsive to what matters to service users and the public, and to design services around their needs.

Also, local Healthwatch, through its membership of the Health and Wellbeing Board, will be an integral part of the preparation of statutory Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies on which local commissioning decisions will be based. This gives local Healthwatch much more influence at the decision-making table and helps to hardwire public engagement into the strategic planning of health and care services from the start.

In addition, local Healthwatch will be there to support individuals by providing information and advice about access to services and choice, e.g. signposting. It is hoped that this will enable people to take more control of their own health, treatment and care, and understand and use the increased choices available to them.

Local Healthwatch organisations, embedded and fully networked into communities, will provide people with a single point of contact. They can put people in touch with the right advocacy organisation, or help them find information about the choices they have; they can support people to speak out and they can give those who want to get more involved the opportunity to do so.

In order to be truly representative of local communities the ambition is that local Healthwatch will be part of a system rooted in local experience, harnessing the expertise of the public, community and voluntary sectors and others at the local level, particularly those working with people and groups who have a difficult time getting their voice(s) heard.

Local authorities will be responsible for commissioning local Healthwatch and will have some freedom and flexibility about what organisational form it will take, based on their thorough assessment of the needs and wishes of their community. This decision should be made in consultation with local community stakeholders and theexisting LINk (Local Involvement Network): this underlines the principles of good commissioning based on active engagement to understand local need.

Aim

There is a need to explain to people about the new Local Healthwatch.

In addition, Shropshire Council is leading on the commissioning of the new Local Healthwatch and needs to engage with key stakeholders and local communities to find out what they need Local Healthwatch to be able to do for them (feeding into the commissioning process).

Desired outcome

An empowered Local Healthwatch that will representcommunity views thus having real influence with those who commission and provide services about what users, carers and citizens need and want from them.

Consultation target audiences

Internal

  • Staff
  • Councillors

External

  • Shropshire residents
  • Shropshire LINk
  • Parish and Town Councils
  • Local and regional media
  • Shropshire County PCT
  • National Health providers
  • Hope House and Severn Hospices
  • Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
  • Carers Federation
  • Shropshire Members of Parliament
  • Shropshire Members of the Youth Parliament
  • Health & Wellbeing Board
  • Shropshire Partnership
  • Shropshire People’s Panel
  • Patient Participation Groups
  • Children Centre Services
  • Parents and Carers Council, Shropshire (PACC)
  • Shropshire VCS Assembly
  • Care Council Crew (Looked after children aged 12-19)
  • Speak Out Group (Young people aged 11-18)
  • Shropshire Association of Senior Citizen Forums
  • AgeUK
  • Shropshire Youth Association
  • The British Red Cross young carers project (supportscarers aged 5-18)
  • Shropshire Disability Network
  • Partnership Boards (There are five Boards, covering the following areas:
  • Learning disability
  • Physical disability and sensory impairment
  • Family carers
  • Older people
  • Mental health

Timeline

April to MayStakeholder engagement (pre-commissioning)

July to Oct.Commissioning

NovemberSelect preferred bidder

DecemberContract agreement

Consultation methods

  • Online questionnaire
  • Shropshire People’s Panel
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Focus groups
  • Workshops
  • One-to-one interviews with shortlisted providers

Communication channels

Internal

  • Yammer
  • Intranet
  • Members’ bulletin

External

  • Press releases (news stories on Shropshire Newsroom)
  • Reports to committees
  • Social media – Facebook (e.g Shropshire Youth) and Twitter
  • Shropshire Council website
  • E-newsletters – Shropshire Partnership, Patient Groups, VCS Assembly, Shropshire Association of Local Councils (SALC), NHS providers, etc
  • Shropshire Cares Info Central (
  • Customer Service Centre

Communications risk flash report

Key Points

  • The timeline for effective consultation and engagement is challenging
  • What future role for the Shropshire LINk?
  • May need to commission bits of the Local Healthwatch role with different Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS) organisations

Perception/Reputation Risk

  • Need to communicate effectively to avoid it seeming as if Shropshire Council has imposed a solution

Mitigation proposals

  • Ensure that residents and councillors are well-informed.

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Appendix A

Communications plan for TITLE

Date / Event / Key messages to include / Audience / Notes

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Appendix B

Organisations / Name / Contact details / Training / Area of specialism

Third party advocates

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