1. Community Conversations

2. Background
Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Public Health Team has commissioned a series of ‘Community Conversations’ on behalf of the Cheshire West Integrated Care Partnership.
The Community Conversations are taking place across the borough of Cheshire West and Chester.
Agreed recruitment processes aim to ensure a representative demographic spread of adults that have lived experience of Long Term Conditions from across the 9 care communities (including carers and loved ones).
The Community Conversations programme runs from 1 February to 28 May 2019, and is being carefully managed so not to impact on local democratic processes as we approach the local elections in May.

3. The Model – Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry is a model that seeks to engage people in self-determined change. The model prioritises meaningful and purposeful conversations with participants which go way beyond high level engagement or consultation.
Our Community Conversations are about listening to the experiences of local people and working with them to co-produce local, community-led solutions to better manage the health and social care needs of our local population.
Our focus is better understanding the views and perspectives of those with lived experience of Long Term Conditions (LTCs) by recruiting and working with community members (including seldom-heard voices), ensuring a representative demographic spread.

4. The process
There are four stages of the Appreciative Inquiry process to deliver our Community Conversations, Individual participant journeys will follow each stage of this process. :
Discover: The identification what works well.
Dream: The envisioning of processes that would work well in the future.
Design: Planning and prioritising processes that would work well.
Destiny/Deploy: The implementation (execution) of the proposed design.
The process will help inform community capability for people with and/or affected by Long Term Conditions (LTCs) and support service development.

5. Provider - Cheshire Community Action
The contract to deliver our Community Conversations was awarded to local Third Sector infrastructure organisation Cheshire Community Action (CCA) in January
CCA have extensive experience of working with local communities and voluntary sector organisations, including early intervention and prevention services.
A ‘Project Team’ has been established to oversee the programme and is working closely with CCA, drawing representatives from CWICP partner organisations.

6. Timeline
February 2019: ‘Discover and Dream’ phases - 29 group conversations with 5-8 participants (3 in each Care Community, with 4 in Northwich and Ellesmere Port as larger geographies).
March/April 2019: ‘Design’ phase - 9 follow up events for participants (1 in each Care Community) plus a wider public/stakeholder event.
May 2019: ‘Destiny/Deploy’ phase: 9 final events for participants (1 in each Care Community).
May 2019: Final Report - a detailed set of recommendations for action to be considered by the Cheshire West ICP

7. How to get involved
A list of dates and venues for the Community Conversations are available here
Participants are being reimbursed for travel costs and given a £10 high street shopping voucher as a thank you for taking part. The sessions won’t last more than 2 hours and refreshments are provided.
People who can’t attend a Community Conversation event can take part in other ways, such as via an electronic survey available here or by arranging a phone call with a member of Cheshire Community Action’s by calling
Community groups and voluntary organisations are also invited to arrange bespoke sessions with the people that use their services (that have lived experience of Long Term Conditions).

8. The benefits Help shape local services and community responses.
Build knowledge of the local health and social care system, including how communities can support each other.
Support increased wellbeing and connections between existing forums.
Support an increased sense of social responsibility and ownership of the solutions for change.
Support the identification and development ‘Community Connectors’.
Empower and support the community to deliver against actions and recommendations within their own communities.

9. Further Information
For further information regarding the Community Conversations and related events visit conversations/
For regular live updates you can also and @C_C_A
To raise a question or make a suggestion to the ‘Project Team’ or contact Public Health Programme Lead direct.