Report to:      East Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board

Date:               1 March 2022

By:                  Associate Director of Public Involvement and Community Partnerships, Sussex Health and Care Partnership                        

Title:               Deliberative Engagement: Integrated Care System (ICS) - System Pressures                       

Purpose:        To inform the Health Wellbeing Board about the engagement process and the outputs from the Deliberation work.

Recommendations:

The East Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board is recommended to:

1. Note the Deliberative Engagement findings

1 Background

1.1 The pressures on the health and care services in late 2021 were well known across Integrated Care System (ICS) partners and some wider stakeholders. However, insight highlighted that for the general public, perception was being shaped largely by personal experience of access, and by the national popular press.  The use of communications assets to support information about use of NHS services – “Right Care Right Place” – was well planned and co-ordinated, but there was debate about how open and honest messaging should be, how best to inform the public about the range of services available, and how to stimulate and support self and community support and resilience.

1.2 Building on earlier deliberative work in the ICS and a parallel deliberative series focusing on personalisation, health inequalities and digital access, it was agreed that the use of deliberative methodology would be a tool to facilitate a debate with and between a range of stakeholders and a small number of ICS leaders on “system pressures”, to explore knowledge and insight, in order to shape ongoing work. Stakeholders comprised:

- Members of the public

- Family and friend carers

- Young people

- People from ethnically diverse backgrounds

- Locally elected members

- Community Ambassadors

- Voluntary and Community sector members

- Healthwatch in Sussex

1.3 A series of workshops with each stakeholder group led to a wider discussion with members from each stakeholder group and key System Leaders. 

1.4       The attached report in Appendix 1 outlines the process, key themes and points from the deliberation. A Routes to Action workshop held in early February 2022 brought together several leads from the ICS to review the findings and agree next steps, including identification of opportunities to influence priority setting and decision making. An action plan will be developed from this discussion to ensure progression.  

2 Conclusion and reasons for recommendations

2.1       This work provided insight that has already shaped communication, and that will be used together with wider community insight to continue to influence:

- Content and mode of communication to people about health and care services

- How the health and care system might work to better support self-care and self-management, particularly for people that have long term health conditions

- Communication with the public about developments in health and care services locally, including work underway to support greater integration of health and care services

- Ongoing work to reach and hear from people and communities, and to use insight to shape health and care services.

2.2       The East Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board is recommended to note the deliberative engagement findings.

JANE LODGE

Associate Director of Public Involvement and Community Partnerships

Sussex Health and Care Partnership

Contact Officer: Jane Lodge

Email: jane.lodge1@nhs.net

Appendices

Appendix 1: Report: System Pressures in Sussex: Deliberative Engagement Findings