1. PPG Campaigns Toolkit Support, practical guidance and signposting
Helping us get our messages heard
PPG Campaigns Toolkit
Support, practical guidance and signposting
for Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) and General Practices

2. Welcome to the PPG Campaigns Toolkit
Welcome to the Campaigns Toolkit for Patient Participation Groups (PPGs). The aim is to offer some support, practical guidance and resources to PPGs and their practices, who are interested in getting more involved with promoting health and care messages and campaigns in their local areas.
Each campaign will be individual and will reflect the unique aspects of the different local communities. This toolkit should help you get started.
The Campaigns Toolkit for PPGs has been compiled by the Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). CCGs are local membership organisations led by family doctors that are responsible for planning and paying for healthcare services. They do not provide healthcare like a GP Practice or hospital. Their role is to make sure the appropriate NHS care is in place for the people of Norfolk and Waveney, within the budget they have.

3. Why PPGs?
Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) are groups of patient volunteers who form around their practices to give feedback on services, discuss improvements and sometimes undertake fundraising. Some PPGs also become active volunteer groups who help the practice to plan and run projects that benefit the practice and its patients.
We value the hard work of our PPGs. We also recognise the valuable knowledge they have about the various groups and networks that exist within their communities. Health promotion messages are important in the NHS. We see PPGs as having a key role in helping us to deliver them.

4. Campaign messages and materials
It is important that we promote messages that are accurate, compassionate and that will keep people safe. PPGs will have access to campaign materials that have been developed both nationally and locally. These messages are always developed with health and care professionals, and wherever possible they are also developed using feedback from patients and service users.

5. The messages and materials will usually be:
Available online to download
Available to order as hard copies
Different at different times of the year:
Seasonal – such as flu, winter, sun safety, Bank Holiday prescription and pharmacy
Relevant all year round – such as medicines waste, repeat prescriptions, healthy eating, disease specific e.g. heart health

6. Contact rebecca.champion@nhs.net
Campaign Ideas
The following slides are a menu of ideas for how you can help us to spread messages locally.
You don’t have to do everything – just choose ones that you think will work best for your local area.
You will also have other ideas to add to this list. If you have tried something that has worked really well in your community then let us know and we’ll share it with other PPGs.
Contact

7. Display information at meetings and events:
Put posters & information in key locations:
This can also help you target your information to very
specific groups:
Mother and baby groups
Lunch clubs
Special clinics at the practice for e.g. flu or diabetics
School assemblies
Village fetes or festivals
Surgery screens
Pharmacies
Websites
Post offices
Libraries
Schools
Local businesses
Local care homes
Why not..? Invite groups & organisations to have displays at your flu clinics

8. Appoint ambassadors and champions:
Organise Awareness Events:
Appoint ambassadors and champions:
At the practice or in key locations in your area such as village halls:
Carers Awareness
Healthy eating sessions at schools or nurseries
Healthy living fairs
Annual flu ambassador – someone who drives the campaign each year
Carers champion – someone who promotes messages to carers all year round and makes sure that people understand the issues facing carers
Dementia champion – someone who promotes understanding about the issues faced by people who live with Dementia, and helps make sure their community is dementia friendly

9. Consider setting up a ‘Phone Tree’
This is a prearranged system for activating a group of people by telephone. It can help you spread a brief message quickly and efficiently to a large number of people. For example, it could be useful in spreading messages to practice populations during severe winter weather.
Branches or layers can be added to the tree as needed. Consider adding key contacts who can help spread the word to other networks within a community such as a local pharmacy, the village shop, the school or WI.

10. Winter Campaign 2018 – Help us Help You Stay Well This Winter
The Stay Well This Winter campaign is a joint initiative from NHS England and Public Health England, to help people with long-term health conditions and those over 65 prepare for winter and ward off common winter illnesses.

11. Make sure your PPG is clear about the messages.
Key Messages
Here are the key messages for this campaign.
Be prepared: have a flu jab, keep warm, get advice from a pharmacist at the first signs of a cold.
Self-care: Keep a well-stocked medicine cabinet to treat minor illnesses, ailments and injuries.
Your local pharmacy: Your first point of call for confidential, expert advice and treatment.
Your GP: See your GP if you have an illness or injury that won't go away.
GP online services: Save yourself a trip or a phone call and book appointments/order repeats onine
NHS 111: For urgent healthcare that doesn’t need 999
A&E or 999: For critical or life-threatening situations.
Make sure your PPG is clear about the messages.
Promote them when you are out and about in your local community.

12. Links and resources
Order the Help Us Help You Community Resource Pack from:
- you will need to register with the Public Health England website
Order a Stay Well Leaflet from:
Take a look at the Healthy Ageing Toolkit:
this was produced by Norfolk County Council working with NHS, District Councils, and Third Sector colleagues. It sets out some practical ways that we can all work together to enable older people to stay safe and well at home this winter, and is free for anybody to use.
Download the Age UK ‘Winter Wrapped Up’ Guide which includes a free thermometer, and other useful tips and guidance at:
The following resources are available to download from the NNCCG website:
Winter Health Factsheet
Text for newsletters
Winter 2018/19 Briefing for the Public