Communication and Engagement Strategy

Common Voice

A Communication and Engagement Strategy

2010-12

D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Page 2 of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc CONTENTS

1. What is the purpose of this document 4

2. How does it fit 4 3. The strategic vision for B&NES 4 4. Communications and engagement- aims and objectives 4 5. Values 5 6. Who is our audience 5 7. Equality and Diversity 6 8. What are we communicating 6 9. Short term key messages 7 10. Engagement 7 11. What are our methods for communicating and engaging 8 12. Measuring success 8 Appendix 1 – Our stakeholders 9 Appendix 2 – Principle Communication Methods and Principle Engagement Methods 11 Appendix 3 – Targeted short term messages 2010-11 12 Appendix 4 – Campaigns and social marketing programmes 2010-11 14 Appendix 5 – The Ladder of Engagement 15 Appendix 6 – Methods of communicating mapped by stakeholder Page 3 of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc group 16 Appendix 7 – Health and Wellbeing Engagement Mapping 17

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc 1. What is the purpose of this document Common Voice is a communications and engagement strategy for NHS Bath and North East Somerset (NHS B&NES) acting as a commissioner. The organisation is working in partnership with B&NES Council through the Adult Health Social Care and Housing Partnership. This is referred to throughout the Strategy as ‘the Partnership’. The strategy describes the approaches we will take within the Partnership to lead communication and engagement, how we will target our resources and what messages we will seek to promote amongst all our stakeholders.

2. How does it fit Common voice is informed by and aligned to other major strategies: Improving Health and Wellbeing in B&NES 2010-15 Transforming Community Health and Social Care in B&NES 2010-2015 The Sustainable Community Strategy 2009 – 2026 B&NES Council Communications Strategy 2008 World Class Commissioning

3. The strategic vision for B&NES The strategic vision for the Partnership is described in Improving Health and Wellbeing in B&NES as:

‘Informed and engaged communities taking greater responsibility for looking after their own health and wellbeing, underpinned by spending more of the health and social care budget on early intervention and prevention. Targeting this at those most in need in order to tackle the current inequalities in life expectancy and life experience’.

4. Communications and engagement- aims and objectives The aim of this strategy is to lead effective communications and engagement to support and promote the strategic vision outlined above.

We want to secure a population that has confidence in the local health and care system, is knowledgeable about how to access services, how to stay healthy and independent, where to find assistance and how to get involved.

We will do this through the following objectives:

Inform- provide people with accessible information on how to use the health and care system and make best use of health and wellbeing opportunities

Engage- Go out to people and engage them on their terms using the ladder of engagement to inform, consult, involve collaborate and empower

Promote- Raise the profile and reputation of the organisation increasing knowledge about its role and what it does on behalf of local people

Influence – Stimulate change through social marketing approaches that target communities, affect behaviours, reduce disease and promote wellbeing

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Assure- Give people reassurance and confidence in their services through proactive communications that celebrate achievements.

5. Values Core values underpin how our communication and engagement behaviours will be shaped and delivered.

Our values for communications are to be:

 Open and honest, demonstrating integrity and public accountability Clear, simple and easily understood

 Appropriate to the target audience

 Consistent with local and national messages

 Professional in style, tone and content. Our values for engagement are to:

 Engage with honesty being clear about purpose and what is possible

 Go out to communities and engage with people on their terms

 Ensure dialogue is two-way, listen and encourage constructive criticism

 Be accountable and act upon feedback

 Let people know what we have done.

6. Who is our audience The Partnership works with many individuals and stakeholder groups. Communication and engagement needs are different in different settings and our responses need to be inventive and flexible. We will constantly work to evaluate our stakeholders so that communications can be effectively delivered and engagement activities appropriate and meaningful. A schedule of our principle stakeholder groupings and their communication needs is given at Appendix 1.

A priority audience To achieve the objectives of better health and wellbeing, reduced inequalities and effective use of services, it is appropriate to acknowledge that some sections of our population will benefit from a more intensive and sustained approach to communications. The Partnership will undertake campaigns and social marketing programmes that target communities and groups in areas of greatest need, where people have a greater requirement for information and opportunity. Understanding the need for targeting will be based on needs assessment established through the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and local intelligence. The Partnership will work with the council and within the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) to establish this intelligence using common data gathering methods and will review its targeted

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc communications each year. The areas under current focus are described at Appendix 5.

A staff audience NHS and social care staff are the ambassadors of the vision and the carriers of the message. To deliver strategic change, improve user experience and engage with groups and individuals, the behaviours of staff are central. For staff within the Partnership, we will establish management briefing systems and internal communications that ensure they are knowledgeable and informed and are able to access materials that assist in communicating key messages. We will ensure that staff in the provider services also have information about the priorities for change and will work through our Health and Wellbeing (H&WB) Network to achieve this.

7. Equality and Diversity Equality is essentially about creating a fairer society where everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.The population is diverse in its makeup and both engagement and communication needs to be responsive to that diversity. The Partnership’s equality scheme describes the need to address inequalities by race, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion. Social exclusion through either illness, poverty, infirmity, literacy or other factors presents a key challenge for communication to be effective and involvement to be inclusive. We will continue to seek to establish accessible methods of communicating and engaging with all our constituencies. We will work to communicate in different languages and formats and will strive to enable the participation of seldom heard groups.

8. What are we communicating The Partnership has worked with staff and local stakeholders to articulate more clearly the ideas that drive the way we work and the decisions that we make. The four themes below emerged from this process. These are the themes that we will promote and signpost to in our communications messages:

Be well & stay well – individuals supported to take control of their health and well being, to live independently and to care for each other. To make this happen we will invest each year more of our time, energy and resource in preventative services and early intervention.

Be equal - we want people in all our communities to enjoy the same high standards of health and wellbeing. We will work positively with those in our more deprived communities and will target investment to support this aim.

Be together – we will establish a relationship of trust with our local residents and with the network of organisations providing care on our behalf.

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Be innovative - as stewards of the public purse we will be brave enough to try new ideas and to learn quickly from our mistakes in order to improve the quality, safety, and effectiveness of our services.

To support and clarify the themes described above a set of simple messages will be promoted throughout our communications.

We are working to  Make Bath and North East Somerset a healthier place  Give people greater choice and independence  Reduce inequalities through services accessible to all  Involve people in the shaping of local priorities  Secure high quality services for all users

We want people to  be responsible by looking after their own health and welfare  be informed through receiving good advice and information  be assisted through getting the right help at the right time  be involved by working together with us

9. Short term key messages We have a range of methods for identifying immediate public concerns. These include public polling, patient surveys, the Patient Advice and Liaison Service, complaints and feedback from public events. It is our intention to take note of these concerns and target communications so that the public are better informed about them. We will do this by selecting each year a set of short-term messages that we will promote through varied media. The key areas for 2010-11 are informed by the annual MORI poll and are included at Appendix 4. 10. Engagement The Partnership will engage with its population, its staff and its partners. We will work to constantly strengthen our approaches so that all that we do is open to and influenced by engagement with local people. We will seek to grow and develop our H&WB Network towards a vibrant community of commissioners, providers, commentators and service users, working together to participate in service development and service change. We will learn from what we hear and will identify the changes we make as a result of engagement. We will make sure that we complete the engagement loop by feeding back to people and keeping people informed on what we have done and why we have done it.

Future development in engagement The Sustainable Community Strategy includes the principle of creating communities where everyone contributes and takes responsibility. In order to develop this idea, the LSP is developing a Community Engagement Strategy. To strengthen our approaches and maximise joint resources, NHS B&NES will participate in this joint work and seek to shape within the LSP a community engagement network. The aim will be to combine resources towards a common approach to public service engagement.

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc The LSP strategy will seek to understand and develop participation through reference to the ladder of engagement outlined at Appendix 6. This describes a spectrum from being informed to being empowered. To position the LSP in readiness for this approach, an exercise to map each LSP theme against the ladder has been completed and the results for the H&WB Partnership are attached at Appendix 7. These findings and subsequent work will be used to inform the development of our approaches.

11. What are our methods for communicating and engaging One size will not fit all and one method will not work for all. We will exercise creativity and employ varied mechanisms as the tools of communication and engagement. These methods will be traditional in the sense of tried and tested approaches, such as press releases, newsletters and public meetings and also exploratory. We will look to innovate through modernising our web communications and considering targeted social media, such as podcasts, texting and social networking sites to identify ways of going out to targeted communities on different terms. We will look to strengthen our presence on local radio and broadcasting websites and to have less reliance on print media. We will work to strengthen and broaden our H&WB Network and seek out new ways of connecting with all our communities A description of the principle methods we will employ is included at Appendix 2. We will evaluate our methods and keep them under review. A schedule that maps the methods to our stakeholder groups across our five objectives is presented in Appendix 3.

12. Measuring success Communications and engagement activity across the Adult Health, Social Care and Housing Partnership is accountable to the PCT Chief Executive who heads the Partnership. The Communications Steering Group will set the measures for performance and review these annually. It is expected that performance will be measured through:

Press and media analysis Progress against annual communications action plan Results of public polling and public feedback

Communications performance will be reported to the Communications Steering Group bi-monthly and to the Board at six-monthly intervals.

Reputation management and media performance for the PCT is monitored by the Strategic Health Authority and for B&NES Council by Divisional Directors and the Cabinet.

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Appendix 1 Our stakeholders

The principle groupings of stakeholders that the Partnership is communicating and engaging with are described below, and the principle needs for communication identified.

Category Description What do they need to know

People who use Service users, patients and carers. Our key messages. Information services On any day of the week, thousands of about services. How to access individuals will be using health and services, how to get help and social care services. assistance, how to get involved.

People in greatest People and communities who, either Our key messages. Information need by lifestyle or social circumstance, about services how to access experience poorer health and services, how to get help and wellbeing. assistance, how to get involved.

The general public There are 175,000 residents of Bath Our key messages. Who we are, and North East Somerset. The How we spend the money on provision of health and care touches health and social care. How health everybody’s lives at one time or and social care is performing and another. The development and how to access the right services delivery of health and social care is a when needed. key issue of public interest.

Minorities and Individuals and groupings in our Our key messages. Information seldom heard population who are under- about services, how to access communities represented and experience barriers services, how to get help and to involvement, equality of access assistance, how to get involved. and communication.

Staff The Partnership has some 150 Our key messages. What is going commissioning staff, a vital resource on, what our vision, aims and upon which the work of the whole priorities are, what messages we organisation is dependent. The want to promote. Issues of public wider NHS and Council staff who act and organisational concern. as front line contacts with the public.

Service providers As a commissioner, we relate to a Our key messages. Strategy, wide range of health and social care plans and policy. How we spend providers including independent the money on health and social contractors and the third sector. care, how health and social care is Ensuring effective relationships and performing. the management of service provision through these relationships is an essential function.

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Category Description What do they need to know

Primary Care GPs and community staff working in Our key messages. What is going localities are singled out as having a on, what our vision, aims and special role in communicating with priorities. Service development our population in local communities. plans and service information. How people can get involved. Performance and . The Board, H&WB Strategy, plans, policy and accountability bodies Board, SHA and regulators. operational issues. How health and social care is performing. Organisational issues and risks.

Strategy, policy, . Groups who take a Our key messages. Strategy, planning, advocacy specialist interest in the policy and plans. How we spend and scrutiny groups development of services have a the money on health and social particular relationship with the care, how health and social care organisation and have a specified is performing. How the public are role to play. These groups include involved. the LSP, the Overview and Scrutiny panel, Local Involvement Network and communities of interest.

Local democracy . MPs, Councilors, Our key messages. Strategy, parish councils. policy and plans. Service development plans How to get involved.

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Appendix 2 Principle Communication Methods

Communications will be both generic and targeted following the principles, values and key messages outlined in the strategy. The main methods that will be employed by the Partnership are outlined below. We will continuously assess the effectiveness and validity of these methods and look to innovate and develop by listening to local communities.

Website Press and print media Radio & TV broadcasting Council Connect H&WB newsletter GP news Your guide to health services Intranet for staff Annual plans Annual Report Public papers Briefings to key stakeholders e.g. MPs Information fact sheets Leaflets & posters Information displays at public events Management brief for staff Campaigns LSP newsletter Correspondence Social media (facebook, texting, podcast etc)

Principle Engagement Methods

As part of its world class commissioning approach, the Partnership will identify specific engagement plans on all service developments applying the ladder of engagement to target and achieve effective participation. The immediate methods employed by the Partnership are outlined below we will work within the LSP to further develop these and achieve a common engagement approach.

Our healthy conversations and H&WB Network events Targeted meetings with communities, individuals and groups Specific engagement exercises and networks, e.g. older people Consultations Impact assessments Public Overview & Scrutiny meetings Public Local Involvement Network meetings Public polling Surveys Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) Annual feedback report of messages heard

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Appendix 3 Methods of communicating mapped by stakeholder group

Inform Engage Promote Influence Assure

People who Press and media Events targeted to Press and media Campaigns Press and media use services Publications communities Publications Events PALS Website PALS Website Publications Complaints Local service Website Events Publications information Surveys & polls Service response People in Press and media Events targeted to Press and media Campaigns Press and media greatest Publications communities Publications Events Targeted approach health need Website Surveys & polls Events Publications Service information Service response Targeted approaches Targeted approaches Targeted materials Targeted approaches

The general Press and media Events Website Campaigns Press & media public Publications Website Press and media Events FOI Website Surveys & polls Publications Publications Publications Events

Minorities Publications Specific events Publicity materials Campaigns Press and media and seldom Website Press and media Events PALs heard groups Service information Publications Publications Service information Events Publications

Staff Intranet Intranet Comms training Intranet Press and media Management brief Management brief Publicity materials Management brief Intranet Staff meetings Staff meetings Identity guidelines Staff meetings Management brief Surveys Brand templates Staff meetings

D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Inform Engage Promote Influence Assure

Service Website H&WB network Corporate identity Campaigns Press and media providers H&WB newsletter Specific events Plans and reports Events Plans and reports Meetings Public papers Publications Public papers Briefings

Primary Care GP news GP news GP news Campaigns GP news Intranet H&WB network Press and media Events Press and media Meetings Publications Publications Plans and reports Specific events Website Public papers Events Performance Website Meetings Publicity materials Campaigns Plans and reports & Briefings Seminars Identity guidelines Events Press and media accountability Papers Brand templates Publications Publications bodies Publications Seminars

Strategy, Briefings Liaison management Corporate identity Campaigns Press and media policy, Website Meetings Plans and reports Events Plans and reports planning & Publications Events Public papers Publications Public papers scrutiny Correspondence groups

Local Briefings Meetings Publicity materials Campaigns Press and media democracy Website Seminars Identity guidelines Events Plans and reports Publications Brand templates Publications Public papers Correspondence

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Appendix 4

Targeted short term messages 2010-11

We know from current public polling from patient surveys and from engagement activities that there are some top level concerns and areas of poor understanding that we need to address by giving people information that increases their understanding and reduces concern. .

NHS dentists People believe that there are not enough NHS dentists Message There has been investment in dentistry, Dental surgeries are taking on NHS patients in B&NES and there is a dental access line for telephone information.

Waiting times People believe that waiting times are high Message Waiting times have come down. Patients now wait less that ever before.

Hospital infections People believe hospitals are dirty and unsafe Message Hospital infections are reducing and close attention is being paid to improved hygiene and cleanliness. Patient Environment Action Team reports which measure the quality of the patient environment show good achievements.

Poor knowledge of joined up services across NHS and social care People think that health and social care is not joined up enough Message NHS B&NES and social care are working together. Provide and promote examples of service development and joint working.

Poor knowledge of what the organisation is and what it does People do not know what NHS B&NES is or what Primary Care Trusts do Message The organisation is the local leader of the NHS in B&NES The organisation has all the money and decides how to buy your health care.

D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Appendix 5 Campaigns and social marketing programmes 2010-11

We know from needs analysis, from health inequalities data and from service activity monitoring that there are public health and service uptake priorities that require intervention to empower and assist people in changing behaviours, adopting healthier lifestyles and making the most effective use of services.

Change for Life Obesity and sedentary lifestyles are a major cause of public health concern. People’s behaviours and lifestyle choices need to change.

The national programme of eat well, move more, live longer will be supported in 2010-11 through the promotion of Change For Life campaign materials and the communications support for healthy living programmes.

Choose Well Too many people are attending A&E departments when they do not need to and when their reason for attending could be dealt with through other services. This situation leads to pressures in the urgent care system and unnecessary delays for those patients who need hospital care.

Choose Well promotes the alternatives to A&E. It will be targeted towards those groupings who are the biggest users of A&E and at those communities who have the greatest health need.

Stop Smoking Smoking is a major cause of heart disease, lung disease and cancer. These diseases cause severe morbidity and are preventable.

The smoking cessation programme will be promoted and targeted at areas and communities where smoking prevalence is highest.

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Appendix 6

The Ladder of Engagement The ladder of engagement is adapted from work undertaken by the International Association for Public Participation. Whenever a service engages with the public it is expected that the level of participation will fall under at least one area of this spectrum. No one area is more desirable than another and it is expected that the total public participation activities will cover multiple areas of the spectrum.

Activity Description Example

Processes which place the final a citizens jury Empower decision making in the hands of the public.

Partnership between the public a consensus building Collaborate and the authority in each aspect process of decision making.

To consistently understand and a deliberative workshop Involve consider the publics concerns and aspirations.

Gathering the views of the a survey Consult public on a decision in the later stages.

To provide the public with a newsletter Inform information which is balanced and objective.

of 19 D:\Docs\2018-01-08\070cbabd4d7070ad7a76bf3b8e0ec119.doc Appendix 7 1. Health and wellbeing network 4. Older People’s Information cascaded Network through stakeholder This is a voluntary members of the network, sector network aspiring twice a year the group has to involve users and live events. A newsletter is carers in the future. also circulated to let members know what is Health and wellbeing happening. The network includes service users. Empower 5. Health and wellbeing partnership board open meetings

t These sometimes n

2. Banes Local e Collaborate attract one or two

Involvement Network m members of the public. e

(LINk) The LINK is an g a independent body g n

covering the whole of e

B&NES. The aim is for o

it to be a group of m Involve u

patients service users r 6. Public board t and carers that can be c meetings e a critical friend of the p These sometimes commissioners. S attract one or two Currently there are 500 members of the public. members who receive Consult information and respond to surveys, and around 40 – 50 active members who attend meetings. Inform 7. Involving patients on committees There are currently lay representatives on the 1. Health 2. Banes 3. Mental 4. Older 5. Health 6. Public 7. Involving medicines prescribing 3. Mental health and LINk health people’s and board patients on committee and the network wellbeing network network wellbeing meetings committees NICE committee. The mental health network partnership network is aspiring to board open involve patients and meetings carers. Engagement tool

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