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

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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
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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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:
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.

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