Content originally Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System
Welcome to our November 2023 edition
This newsletter includes information about a number of important conversations with our residents underway this month across the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System.
Conversations include people’s views and experiences of inpatient care in our local community hospitals, experiences of unpaid carers in the city of Southend and how residents of Basildon and Brentwood keep themselves healthy.
The newsletter also features opportunities for both organisations and individuals to develop their communications and engagement skills to support important work that will make a difference in their communities.
You can also find out about the launch of an exciting new digital engagement platform to make it as easy as possible for residents to contribute to our public conversations and engagement exercises about local health and care.
NEW digital engagement platform to share views on local healthcare plans launches
This month saw the launch of a a new-look digital engagement platform to help us build an online community called Mid and South Essex (MSE) Virtual Views.
If you were a member of our old Virtual Views panel, you’ll know it gave people living locally a simple, anonymous way to share their experiences of and views about health and care services in our area. The new version is a big improvement helping us engage with a wider range of our residents.
We would love it if you joined us for online discussion of future health and care through MSE Virtual Views. You can sign up by selecting the button below.
When you register you will be asked to give us some personal information. This is entirely optional as we understand not everyone will want to put such details online, but the more you tell us about yourself when you register, the more relevant you will find the service.
Your information will be kept in strict accordance with data protection laws, and your comments will help inform and influence the plans and decisions of local NHS organisations.
The local NHS sometimes makes proposals to change its services. When this happens, we’ll ask you what you think of the plans via a formal consultation. Signing up to MSE Virtual Views offers you a simple way to hear about these plans as early as possible and have your say.
Please join MSE Virtual Views and help shape the future of local health and care.
Have your say on inpatient stays in community hospital beds
As part of the NHS’s winter preparations, senior clinicians and partners across the health and care system have been developing plans to make the best use of healthcare facilities and resources this winter.
Read this webpage for more information.
NHS Mid and South Essex is asking people for their views on these temporary changes for bed-based healthcare in our community – and their experience, if they have needed to spend some time in one. This is to help inform longer term options for these services. It is important to remember that no permanent changes will be made prior to formal public consultation.
NHS Mid and South Essex has set up a survey, which you can access from the button below. We would also like to hear about any recent experiences you have had of overnight stays in community hospital beds. To share your comments, please use the button below.
NHS Mid and South Essex’s next Board meeting in public is on
16 November
NHS Mid and South Essex is holding its next Integrated Care Board meeting on Thursday 16 November 2023 at The Gold Room, Orsett Hall, Prince Charles Avenue, Grays, RM16 3HS.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting, which starts at 3pm, so they can observe the Board’s decision-making. If you would like to attend, please register your attendance by completing this registration form.
The Chair usually gives the public time at the start of the meeting to ask questions relation to the agenda. These questions should be submitted in writing three working days before the meeting date.
This online form gives you a simple way to do so.
Community groups can learn about marketing and communications
“Marcomms”, as the discipline is sometimes called, can be difficult for smaller charities and community organisations to deliver. Essex County Council’s Communications and Marketing team is offering to support local voluntary groups in with some guided learning if there is sufficient take-up.
If you are involved with a group that would benefit from a virtual training session, you can express interest in the training by completing a online form by the deadline of Thursday 30 November 2023.
If enough organisations sign up, the team at County Hall will be in touch about training sessions in the New Year.
| Complete survey |
Healthwatch Essex, is exploring the health, care and wellbeing of people involved in sex work across the area covered by Essex County Council. This project has to focus on the honest lived experiences of people living in that area to produce meaningful outcomes.
To ensure this, Healthwatch Essex is asking people who are, or have been, involved in sex work to take part, with guaranteed anonymity. Organisations that offer sex workers support are also welcome to take part in the project.
The organisers want to use the project’s findings to improve the health and wellbeing of this vulnerable group. To help keep individuals’ comments anonymous, they are flexible about how and where any conversations take place.
To find out more or have a discussion and perhaps feed into the project, email sharon.westfield-de-cortez@healthwatchessex.org.uk or call 0300 500 1895 and ask to speak to Sharon.
Unpaid carers in Southend-on-Sea can share experiences and ideas
Healthwatch Southend is working with the Southend Carers charity this year to give people who look after friends or loved ones without being paid a stronger voice in the city’s services.
As part of this work, Healthwatch Southend wants to make sure the challenges of being an unpaid carer are properly recognised. In particular, they are asking residents who look after others to share their experiences of accessing their local GP surgery.
Unpaid carers can do this by taking a simple online survey that’s available using the button below. Printed copies are available by calling 01702 416320.
How do Basildon and Brentwood residents look after their wellbeing?
The Basildon and Brentwood Alliance is a group of public and voluntary sector organisations that all support health and care outcomes for the two neighbouring boroughs that gave the alliance its name.
A key priority is about planning for the future: improving services offered, making sure they are ready for changes to the local population and boosting access for people with additional needs.
That planning relies on insights from the community to be fully effective, so the alliance is asking its residents to share information on how they maintain their wellbeing and improve their health and fitness.
All Basildon and Brentwood residents are welcome to take part in the survey, which you can find online using the button below.
New programme helps patient experts develop healthcare innovation
The new NHS Patient Entrepreneur Programme is now accepting applications from people looking to turn their ideas for improving healthcare into reality.
Based on the highly successful NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP) [LINK], the new pilot programme is specifically for people who have used their experience of health care or a long-term health condition to develop healthcare innovations.
Many patients and carers have come up with inventions to support the NHS, but people often need support to move their idea beyond the design phase. This free, 12-month support programme brings workshops, mentoring, business planning and academic learning to successful applicants.
You can apply for a spot in the NHS Patient Entrepreneur Programme now through its website. There is a launch webinar for the programme on 5.30pm on 14 November 2023 when you can find out more, and the deadline for applications is 27 November 2023.
The Clinical Director for Innovation at NHS England, Prof Tony Young OBE, said: “We believe that transforming healthcare is a collective effort, and we are excited to announce the launch of the Patient Entrepreneur Programme.
“This programme offers patients and carers who have developed healthcare innovations or projects the opportunity to join the Clinical Entrepreneur Programme and scale their ideas for the benefit of all.”
SWF Health & Social Care Group 