Read about our projects in Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge
In July 2022, we held a joint Patient Engagement Forum (PEF) for Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge (BHR). Members heard about how the new Integrated Care Board had formed and about plans to help develop Patient Participation Groups. They also found out about how the Community Insights System is supporting the organisation to gather important feedback about health services and how this is feeding back into the local NHS plans.
A topic-focussed Patient Engagement Forum was held in October on mental health by request of members. NELFT, the local mental health provider, presented to 12 members of the public. The meeting was rich in discussion and they talked about some of the potential solutions which included holding more community events and empowering community members to help people look after their mental health.
In December 2022, we held borough-based PEF meetings, two of which were in person. At these meetings we introduced the work of the borough partnerships and had open discussions about the future of engagement in our new ICB structure.
The Health and Faith Network in outer north east London is now meeting regularly with the support of local public health teams. A revised terms of reference for the Network has been agreed and we are now working with them to develop a work plan for 2023/24. The Network is keen to support public health initiatives by sharing messages and arranging events for health and care staff to speak to their communities. We plan to grow the Network by inviting more faith communities to be involved and we are holding the meetings in different faith venues on a rotational basis around the three boroughs.
The Planned Care team covering Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge approached the engagement team about doing a targeted campaign within the three boroughs to encourage more people to come forward to have their blood pressure monitored. We advised them to undertake insight work first to understand more about barriers and motivations behind what would encourage the general public, particularly ‘at risk’ groups to get their blood pressure checked. This would then inform us better to ensure we are able to work on a more targeted campaign moving forward.
We worked with the Programme Manager, clinical staff and public health teams to develop a survey. The survey explored peoples’ level of awareness and perception of what high blood pressure is, as well as their behaviours, motivations and barriers around blood pressure monitoring. We also worked closely with BMG research who ran focus groups and in-depth interviews with identified ‘at risk’ groups.
The insight work ran from 28 June to 29 July 2022 and was carried out across all three boroughs. We had 637 survey responses, 30 focus group attendees and completed 8 in depth interviews. A final qualitative report and quantitative report were shared with the Planned Care team and summary of findings were presented at a BHR Hypertension Workshop on 10 August 2022.
Working across our diverse communities to achieve one of the highest uptakes in the country, we have now scanned more than 2,000 residents in Barking and Dagenham, and we are now looking to expand the programme to other areas. Visit the NEL Cancer Alliance for more information on targeted lung health check
We have produced a video which is available in 17 different languages: targeted lung health check videos
The team facilitated a conversation for Barking and Dagenham Citizens and Coventry University London Dagenham with our north east London workforce leads. With workforce as one of the Integrated Care Systems (ICS) main priorities, this conversation has helped our workforce leads to link them in with important work that’s happening across the ICS and also help them to understand the pathways into health and social care work and how they might be able to work together going forward. Barking and Dagenham Citizens are hoping to plan an event with other east London citizens groups within north east London on workforce opportunities.
In September 2022, NHS North East London launched a consultation on plans to create a new health centre in Ilford town centre. The proposals for this new health centre would provide space for primary, community and social care services from two floors in the Ilford Exchange shopping centre in the heart of Ilford, close to main amenities and transport links.
The services proposed for the new health centre included:
As part of the proposals there may also be additional space with flexibility for other seasonal services and potentially some community space which residents were invited to share their views on.
The consultation took place over six weeks and included a public survey; an information stand for two days in Ilford Exchange managed by people who speak multiple languages; four public engagement events and one engagement event with members of the local charity One Place East who have different disabilities. Printed versions of the survey and an easy read guide survey were also available. The consultation was also widely promoted through various community groups which ensured that the demographics of those who responded were as representative as possible of Ilford. NHS North East London, NELFT and London Borough of Redbridge worked closely together to deliver the consultation in partnership with each other which allowed for a wider reach into the community. The response to the plans for the new health centre from local people and stakeholders was overwhelmingly positive.
The Redbridge borough partnership established a small working group which worked together on actions including – a lunch and learn to raise awareness on Accessible Information Standards; commissioning BSL videos on key health topics such as winter vaccinations and mental health; tested the new Newham Language Shop BSL service and commissioning a series of health engagement sessions specifically for BSL users. There are now plans to form a dedicated working group which will plan to address health inequalities faced by the deaf community and residents with accessibility needs (including other sensory impairments and learning disabilities). The borough partnership has been awarded £25,000 from London Councils to undertake this work. A paper outlining the proposed model for embedding accessibility within Redbridge, has been approved by partnership board members.
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