Shropshire patients invited to join new health committee to ensure voices are heard
Patients are being invited to join a new committee which aims to ensure people's voices are heard on matters involving health services.
The responsibility for planning and purchasing services currently falls to Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).
From next month a single commissioning group covering the whole county will be created.
Part of the CCG’s work is to ensure people from all over the county are heard and that views, priorities and concerns are taken into account when planning services.
The new CCG is forming an assuring involvement committee and is calling for volunteers to get involved.
“It’s about making sure that we are speaking to the whole of our communities," said Alison Smith, director of corporate affairs.
“The committee will play a key role in making sure that the CCG seeks out people’s views and listens to what is important for our local population.
“We need to make sure we are having some outside views on the plans we have for engagement and communications, and how we are reaching people.”
The assuring involvement committee plays an important role in how the CCG engages and communicates with the diverse communities in the county.
“It is incredibly important that the CCG seeks a wide range of views from all parts of our communities,” added Meredith Vivian, lay member for public and patient involvement.
Training
“The assuring involvement committee will play a pivotal part in making sure that the CCG does reach out and hears from the people who know most about what it feels like to receive services – patients themselves.”
People interested in being a member of the committee should have an understanding of the area’s diverse groups, including people with different backgrounds and lifestyles.
Their views will help the CCG seek out people from those communities to ensure all voices are heard.
No medical background or knowledge is required and full training will be given to committee members.
Members of the AIC should be able to volunteer around four hours per month of their time.
They need to be able to attend up to eight meetings per year, but these are being held virtually at present so they would require suitable IT facilities.
If you are interested, full details are in the information pack at bit.ly/GetInvolvedNHSTelford or bit.ly/GetInvolvedNHSShropshire or for an informal discussion email Shrccg.communicationsteam@nhs.net to arrange a call.
The deadline for registering an interest is 5pm on April 7.
Informal discussions will take place during the week commencing May 3, with the first meeting of the AIC taking place on May 20.
