Would your VCFSE organisation like to be involved in conversations about the design of health and social care services in Halton? If so, One Halton colleagues would love you to add your voice (as well as those of your staff, volunteers & service users) to a new project; One Halton Voices.
To get involved please complete the form at the bottom of this article and e-mail it matthew.roberts26@nhs.net
The project will have two components. Regular meetings for attendees to be engaged on a variety of topics, as well as a wider network of willing participants who will help to engage with local residents.
- This OHV project will ensure that the needs, opinions and real-life experiences of Halton’s public, patients and communities are listened to.
- Provide the opportunity for local people to shape the commissioning of services and influence decisions relating to the provision of health & social care across Halton
- It will, where necessary, provide challenge if it feels the views of patients, the public or communities are not being taken into account, or, where it believes a particular group may be unfairly affected
- The project will provide assurance to the One Halton Place Based Partnership Board and will also support One Halton and the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board in meeting their statutory duty to consult and engage.
Project is facilitated by Michelle Osbourne (Halton Borough Council) and NHS Cheshire & Merseyside Comms & Engagement team (mainly Matt Roberts).
One Halton Voices Meetings
- Will facilitate regular meetings which are informative and relevant to attendees.
- The meetings will provide speakers with the opportunity to share information or engage with colleagues from across One Halton.
- Items on the agenda will be identified as information sharing or engagement.
- Want speakers/colleagues looking to engage to see the meeting as the first step in the engagement process.
- Will make a commitment to attendees that the impact of all engagement activities (discussed at previous meetings) will be fed back within an appropriate timescale.
- The meetings will not have a commissioning role or access to resources which can fund engagement activities.
- The meetings will not be a closed shop.
- Not all colleagues will be expected to attend One Halton Voices meetings. Organisations can still play a vital role in our work, helping to reach and engage with local residents, even if they cannot attend by participating in the Network.
- The topics covered at the meetings can be determined by the One Halton Comms & Engagement Group – the separate Comms & Engagement group will be the conduit for ‘work’ coming through from workstreams and sub committees. They can decide the best way for the topics to be addressed – not all of this will need to come to the voices group
One Halton Voices Network
- Envisage a variety of colleagues supporting them to do this including people who may not have the capacity or inclination to attend the meetings including Practice Managers, Housing Trusts, PPGs, elected Councillors and VCFSE organisations.
- Members of the Network will circulate information through their existing engagement tools (such as Newsletters, E-Newsletters, social media posts etc).
- Michelle & ICB C&E Team will work to support colleagues in the OHV Network writing copy and providing images for newsletters or text for social media posts, formulating surveys and helping colleagues to analyse the intelligence collected.
- Since the Network will not have funding/resources to increase member’s engagement activities, they will be looking to build upon the existing mechanisms which groups & individuals currently use.
- Would ask colleagues to provide information about the methods/tools they currently use to engage and communicate with their clients, service users, constituents, patients etc. This would enable them to quickly map out the tools available in reaching residents.
Please don’t miss your chance to get involved. Please complete the form below and return it to matthew.roberts26@nhs.net