TCC Helps Deliver an Award Winning Health Consultation
How do we find out what people want from their local health authority? How do we let NHS know what their patients want from them? Well, one way is to bring them all together in a big room.
Last year, The Campaign Company were once again recognised for their ability to deliver world class consultation events. In July, we saw the arrival of ‘The Big Health Conversation’, a chance for the people of Sheffield to voice their experiences directly to those who were in charge of the city’s healthcare.
The consultation event was facilitated by Jonathan Upton, chairman of The Campaign Company, and took place at Sheffield’s Pond Forge leisure centre. The event was also host to some of the major players within NHS Sheffield, and included presentations from Public Health Director Dr Jeremy Wight, and Simon Kirk, Director of Strategy.
It coincided with NHS Sheffield’s five-year ‘Achieving Balanced Health’ strategy, and would play a vital role in deciding the future of the city’s healthcare policy. The strategy aims to raise the overall health of Sheffield, and carries with it the ambition of saving 400 people from an early death by the year 2012.
A total of ninety people were selected at random from a citywide telephone survey and invited to take part in the deliberative event. They were proportionally representative of the different council wards within Sheffield in order to provide a balanced opinion from a cross section of the community.
In feedback collected after the event, a staggering 96% of people said that they welcomed the fact that the NHS consulted the public in this manner. Every single person involved, when asked, said that they were keen to be involved in future consultations.
The award for ‘best consultation’ was picked up at the 2009 national NHS Communicate 09 Awards, and even being shortlisted for accolade was an achievement in itself. “It was great for the team at NHS Sheffield to get shortlisted but to win just goes to show that their innovative approaches and commitment shone through. For us to play a supporting role in the consultation that picked up the award is an honour,” says Jonathan. “We really enjoyed working with NHS Sheffield to organise and deliver the event - a lot of people worked very hard to make it a success.”
The event was structured in a way which maximised the opportunities for participation and discussion among the selected people. Specialist audience participation software was used in collecting detailed data; discussion groups were split into tables, each of which had their own assigned facilitators and note-takers. The discussion centred around four key questions:
- How can we improve the experience for patients?
- How should we measure the success of patient treatment?
- How can we continue to improve the safety of patients?
- How should we decide what and what not to spend NHS money on?
Regular presentations put the points that were being discussed into context, and a key feature was the systematic collection, analysis and feedback of points made by other people. Gaining insight into the views of others reassured people that their views were being taken seriously and helped confirm the authenticity of the exercise.
As with so many organisations, the current and future economic climate has had a massive effect on NHS Sheffield’s growth plans. This has made understanding the ground-level needs and priorities of local communities more crucial than ever, allowing NHS Sheffield to provide the best services for the city while continuing to balance the books.
Last Updated on Friday, 12 February 2010 10:55