You said, we did…and are doing


Our engagement with patients, the public, stakeholders and other partners is vital to our work. We always provide feedback to those who have engaged with us and shared their views. We do this in a number of ways:
  • Feedback reports which record the purpose of the engagement, the discussion and outcomes. These are shared with all those involved and published on our website.
  • Adding a brief summary to this page 
  • Meetings to bring people together to feedback on how we have used their views
  • Phone calls to people who have been involved
  • In our Annual Report
  • Emails to people who have been involved and to people on our email list
  • At our Annual General Meeting
  • At our Public Reference Group
  • Via Facebook and Twitter

Frailty 


On 4 July 2018 we held a Frailty Summit with Lewisham Health and Care Partners (LHCP) to listen to local residents' and professionals' views about working together better to improve support and care for people who are frail. 

You said:


A number of areas were highlighted on the day by participants: 
  • A lack of overarching coordination of care both within and across different providers of health and social care.
  • This is made worse by a lack of connection between health and social care information and systems.
  • There are often low-level mental health issues, loneliness, depression and difficult family relationships that, if managed better, could improve the patient's and their family's overall confidence and ability to support themselves.
  • The current system lacks mechanisms to identify someone's needs earlier.
  • Therefore, frailty is often picked up late when a person's situation has become more difficult to resolve.  
  • There were some great suggestions to improve on these issues, including: 
  • Having a systematic assessment of home and health early to prevent a person's situation becoming more complex.
  • Having a frailty care coordinator.

We did…and are doing


Lewisham Health and Care Partners have used the ideas and issues raised at the summit to influence existing programmes of work, including: 
  • Forming four neighbourhood 'Care at Home' teams 
  • Developing Lewisham SAIL Connections to provide a quick and simple way to access a wide range of local services to support older people in maintaining their independence, safety and wellbeing. 
  • Developing local care networks to focus on improving communication at a neighbourhood level and to bring together health and care professionals to identify and resolve local issues, strengthening links to the voluntary and community sector.
  • Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust (LGT) are testing ways to transform the current Ambulatory Care Unit (ACU) at University Hospital Lewisham into a 'community hub' to provide a coordinated response to patients for assessment and treatment in the community. 
  • Lewisham Health and Care Partners have procured a Population Health and Care Information Management System to enable better information sharing across Lewisham providers of care and are looking at how we can use this system to better manage frail elderly patients to prevent them becoming frailer.

Find out more and read the full report from the Frailty Summit.

Carers


You said:

Our Public Reference Group members pointed out that many carers don’t recognise themselves as carers because they think what they normally do is their duty as a relative or friend and don’t access the support available to them. 

We did…and are doing:


Formed a subgroup of the PRG who have been working with commissioners and Carers Lewisham to develop a campaign that will help residents to recognise they are Carers and where they can get support. This will be piloted in Spring 2019. 

Rough Sleepers Pilot


You said:

During the formal consultation on the future of the NHS Walk-in Centre in New Cross, concerns were raised about and people who are homeless and rough sleepers in Deptford and New Cross. Through our Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) we identified that there could be a gap in services for rough sleepers in Deptford and New Cross accessing GP services. 

We did:

  • In response to the concerns raised and the gap identified we worked with rough sleepers and homeless charities to co-produce a pilot service which is in operation and operates two weekly drop-in clinics for rough sleepers in Lewisham. 

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Transformation Plan 

The draft of a CAMHS Transformation Update briefing was shared with our PRG in September. 

You said:
  • PRG members were concerned at the lack of reference to Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in the briefing 
We did…are doing: 
  • A more evidenced focus on equality has influenced four borough discussions with South London and Maudsley (SLaM) regarding existing dataset, this will result in revised key performance indicators which are better able to demonstrate any barriers to access including cultural diversity 
  • Findings fed into the member-led review of the mental health and wellbeing needs of Children and Young People which has recommended that as part of the early help review, we should consider using local authorities/CCG CAMHS funding to develop an approach to work specifically with young people at risk of exclusion, paying particular attention to the needs of BAME young people.
  • Findings also contributed to the updated CAMHS Transformation Plan 2018

End of Life Care Transformation

Members of the PRG joined local patients, carers and residents with representatives from the PRG, Healthwatch, Lewisham Nexus, Three Cs Support, Carers Lewisham and Metro for engagement activities to help to develop the Lewisham End of Life Transformation Project during the re-procurement of the Community Specialist Palliative Care Service. 

You said:
  • Training: As a carer I want the people caring for my dad to be specially trained, there needs to be more respite care and an overall plan to make it more likely that he can stay at home.
  • There should be a Patients’ Charter that tells patients and carers what their rights are and what to expect. 
  • Dignity is important and should be “automatic”.
  • People need a single number/named person
  • It is important to link into cultural/ethnic groups for people who do not have a voluntary sector organisation working on their behalf
  • Look at services from the patient perspective and quality based on patient experience. Who do we engage with if the patient is unable to engage for themselves?
We did:
  • We included specific Key Performance Indicators in the service specification which measure key parts of the patient’s experience including dignity and how patients felt they were treated by staff .
  • We also included preparing a Patient Charter within the contract for the new supplier.

Pharmacy First refresh

During 2018, we reviewed the Pharmacy First scheme and are planning to refresh the materials and run a promotional campaign to raise awareness of the scheme during Spring 2019. Our Public Reference Group were invited to review the materials and advise on what improvements can be made. 

You said:

For the leaflet: 

  • Add information on pharmacies list 
  • Add date/version of leaflet
  • Shorten website url 
  • Add clear protocol, how/when to use

For the campaign:

• Use local papers and Lewisham Life to advertise
• Improve advertising in the pharmacies 
• Clarification for patients on borough boundaries and use of the scheme.

We did…are doing:


The Pharmacy Team and Communications Manager reviewed the PRG suggestions which will be incorporated, where appropriate, for the production and promotion of the new material. This will include:
  • Clarification for patients on borough boundaries. 
  • Clearer explanation of eligibility criteria 
  • Signpost to how to access the pharmacies list, telephone numbers, and additional information such as opening times, late-night chemists, and bank holiday opening. 
  • Add date/version of leaflet
  • It was recommended to shorten the website link, however the team believes it should include the full title to promote memory recall of the scheme. 
  • Add clear protocol, how/when to use the scheme.
  • The scheme will be clearly advertised in the participating pharmacies. 
  • Using local papers and Lewisham Life to advertise.