Engagement

Our events officer has increased his attendance at public events during the autumn to support the delivery of the winter campaign, and has attended 30 events since September. This has included student freshers’ fairs, and weekend flu clinics where there is increased footfall in GP surgeries. He has spoken to approximately 1,400 people, and shared information and literature about the choose well campaign, the long term plan, and the mental health strategy. Common themes of discussion include the importance of choosing the right location for the right condition; the superb roles of GPs in Cornwall; the importance of looking after people during the winter; and the lack of clarity among young people about whether they have had their MMR/MenACWY jabs.

The feedback has been shared with relevant GP surgeries, Public Health England, and specific information about care with Nikki Thomas as patient experience lead.

The team attended 13 engagement events and PPG meetings from June to August, talking to people about a range of issues, including our choose well campaign, sun safety, hydration, mental health, diabetes, and dementia services, and collected comments from people about health services in their community. This is in addition to supporting the children’s commissioning team to arrange its conference in July.

Themes included issues with the availability of GP appointments and recruitment, transport (both public and NHS non-emergency), community hospital and minor injury unit closures. The comments have been shared with locality and quality leads, and the heads of NHS communications teams.

The team attended 8 engagement events from April to June, and spoke to 268 people about a range of issues, including our choose well campaign, diabetes, dementia services, and collected comments from people about health services in their community. This is in addition to supporting the 3 integrated community services stakeholder workshops, and the dementia conference.

Themes included issues with the availability of GP appointments and recruitment, transport (both public and NHS non-emergency), community hospital and minor injury unit closures and waiting times for an autism diagnosis for children. The comments have been shared with locality and quality leads, and the heads of NHS communications teams.

Building upon May’s video recording training, the events officer recorded people’s thoughts about health and care services to share with both commissioning colleagues, and also online (with the person’s written permission). The team is developing the patient engagement web page and the films will be uploaded to this page during the summer.

The events officer is supporting Marazion PPG to develop a survey about practice services to identify areas of improvement, and has also offered to create a film about the PPG’s work to raise awareness of its work and broaden its membership. A similar film has also been created for Carnon Downs PPG, which will also be published on the revamped web page.