‘How NHS Leeds West CCG has engaged local people in setting priorities and improving services’ Kevin Bray Patient Champion kevinjpbray@outlook.com

Context Understanding our local population NHS Leeds West CCG is made up of 37 GP practices in the west and parts of outer north west and south west Leeds; is the largest of three CCGs in Leeds, covering a population of around 350,000 people. The population has a mix of neighbourhoods, from some of the most affluent to some of the most deprived of Leeds.

The commissioning cycle Analyse and plan – setting our priorities Designing pathways – improving services Specify and procure – contracting and paying for services Deliver and improve – monitoring and evaluating our services

1. Analyse and plan Involving patients in setting our priorities Management away day to develop our strategy included four patient champions Deliberative event to refresh our five year strategy 2016-2021 Commissioned organisation to recruit Representative participants 71 attendees Used person personas to encourage people to think about the needs and preferences of the wider community Used vox pops and a graffiti wall Feedback used to shape our strategy http://www.leedswestccg.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2016/04/Report-from-NHS-Leeds-West-CCG-deliberative-event-held-on-5-March-2016.pdf

2. Designing pathways Involving patients in improving services Recruiting a ‘patient champion’ to oversee engagement throughout the commissioning cycle Developing an engagement plan Sharing our plans with our Patient Assurance Group (PAG) Engaging on our plans with Our community network PPGs local voluntary sector services Our partners ‘easily ignored groups’ though our Engaging Voices programme https://doinggoodleeds.org.uk/engaging-voices.html

3. Specify/procure & deliver/improve Involving patients in the last two stages of the commissioning cycle Supporting our ‘patient champion’ to oversee engagement at the procurement and delivery stage Patient champion involved in: the project steering group developing the contract procurement panel developing the evaluation questions developing patient literature carrying out the evaluation reminding the commissioners to act on the feedback from the engagement

4. Supporting our patient champions The role of the patient champion is to encourage commissioners, clinicians and managers to listen to the needs of the wider community and act on what they say. We support our 40+ patient champions by providing: Clear guidance about their role Individual supervision Peer support Access to free training Access to tools and resources Training staff so that they understand the role of the patient champion http://www.leedswestccg.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2015/11/Patient-leader-poster.pdf

4. Supporting our patient champions Case Study – PEP (patient Empowerment Project) Social prescribing Engagement with local people and Vol sector Vol sector identified as best placed to run the scheme Patient champion recruited to the project team: Attended information workshops Supported contract development Involved in procurement Remains on the steering group Supporting evaluation

5. Supporting our PPGs Access to the patient champion programme Training Peer support Individual supervision Visits to our PPGs each year Taster training delivered in practice to individual PPGs Support to re-launch PPGs that are struggling Training and events to support practices in making their PPGs meaningful and effective Providing PPGs with tools and resources such as templates and quality indicator tools.

5. Supporting our PPGs Case Study – Leigh View PPG Lead patients identified Lead staff identified to support the group Monthly meetings Group runs patient activities: Chair aerobics Craft afternoons Coffee mornings Speakers Self management groups (diabetes) Supporting the flu clinic Signing people up to online services

6. Engagement tips Be clear about the role of the group (ground rules, terms of reference, role description) Identify a member of staff to lead the work and act as a point of contact for the group Draw a clear line between subjective patients who want to share their personal opinion (the majority) and objective patients who champion the voice of the wider public. Try to have a mixture at your meeting. Consider giving your patients 15 minutes at the beginning of the meeting to ‘air’ any personal concerns. Encourage your patients to think objectively by providing: National GP survey results Practice profile data Complaint/compliments information Tap into existing resources like this from NAPP: http://www.napp.org.uk/healthyppgs.html Share best practice with your PPG – show them what is being done elsewhere: Ask your CCG to facilitate peer support session where PPG members from across the area can share best practice and support each other Involve your patients in engagement activities such as promoting the flu clinics or signing people up to online services Clearly demonstrate ‘you said, we did’ and explain why you sometimes can’t act on feedback. Develop an action plan.

Contact For more information about our patient champion programme and our work with PPGs, please contact: Chris Bridle, Engagement Lead Chris.bridle@nhs.net