Communications and engagement report

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Investment in social prescribing makes a positive difference to people in Leeds – last year we announced we were investing £4.5 million over three years into social prescribing in Leeds, in a bid to combat anxiety, loneliness and depression – conditions which directly affect people’s mental and physical health.

Changes to accessing GP practices in Leeds – in response to coronavirus, GP practices in Leeds have changed the way appointments are offered and provided.

Observing Ramadan safely during the coronavirus pandemic – Muslims who were getting ready to observe the holy month of Ramadan had been issued advice to keep them safe from a local imam and GP. 100% Digital Leeds keeps older people connected during lockdown – the 100% Digital Leeds team, jointly funded by the CCG and Leeds City Council, are working to ensure that everyone in the city has everything they need to carry out essential tasks and stay connected in an increasingly digital world. Leeds residents say a Big Thank You to their coronavirus heroes – message of thanks for the city’s coronavirus heroes are now being displayed on digital screens across Leeds. The NHS is here for you – during April, we launched a local campaign to encourage people to seek medical help when they need it. The campaign, supported by media releases and case studies, has been widely covered by the local media.

You can find all our press releases on our website https://www.leedsccg.nhs.uk/news/

Total mentions:

Total number of media enquiries:

Favourability:

How many enquiries have been responded to on time:

A selection of recent media stories:

39

12 12

3

786

418

Communications team emails

Most popular content

March

This post describing how access to GPs has changed amid the coronavirus situation was April’s most popular. Reaching an organic audience of 11,352, the post was shared 128 times and pulled in a total of 299 reactions.

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791

401

Communications team emails

Most popular content

This post from our “NHS is still here for you” campaign was April’s most popular post. It reached an organic audience of 20,312 and gathered a total of 646 engagements including 121 shares, and 232 reactions.

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Covid-19 – during the last two months, our campaigns and communications activity has almost exclusively focused on the pandemic. Along with colleagues at Leeds City Council, the team is leading on the city’s communication plan for Covid-19 and has been working closely with colleagues across the local, regional and national healthcare system to communicate with the public, staff and primary care.

Daily briefings – in response to the rapidly changing situation, we developed daily briefings for primary care and CCG staff.

Information portal – in a very short space of time, we substantially developed the CCG website to ensure that up to date and accurate information could be found quickly and easily. As the figures on page 4 show, this has resulted in a significant increase in visits to our website.

Local information campaigns – as well as supporting national messaging, we have worked with health care professionals to develop campaigns in response to local issues:

Your NHS is still here for you: we produced a variety of communications resources reminding people that help is still available for emergencies, mental health and children’s health. www.leedsccg.nhs.uk/health/campaigns/hereforyou

Changes to GP consultations: we supported a local GP to produce a video explaining how consultations have changed. We also developed a communications plan and resources for practices to use.

Over ordering repeat prescriptions and requests for advance medicines: we issued a press release and regular social media posts to help maintain the supply of medicines. One of our GPs also produced a video to explain the reasons to patients.

Cancer signs and symptoms: in response to concerns about drops in diagnoses, we issued a press release and social media plan urging people with concerning cancer symptoms not to delay consulting their doctor.

GP-led health hubs: we have supported practices to communicate with patients about arrangements for seeing patients with Covid-19.

Be Kind: we developed a communications pack to remind patients that primary care staff are doing all they can to help in very difficult circumstances.

For more information, please visit www.leedsccg.nhs.uk/about/covid-19-primary-care/communication-resources

Big Thank You – our winter campaign has been extended and refreshed to encourage people to recognise their coronavirus heroes – all those who keep us safe and well while maintaining essential services – https://bigthankyouleeds.co.uk

Social media – the CCG’s social media accounts have been particularly active during the past two months. As well as regularly posting our own local messages, we have supported the national Government, PHE and NHS campaigns and our local partner organisations. To ensure a responsive service, the team has provided a voluntary out of hours service during evenings and weekends.

CCG annual report - we compiled the CCG’s statutory annual report and submitted the first draft to NHS England and NHS Improvement in April. The final version is due in June. This is always a significant undertaking, but never more so than during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Number of e-bulletins (staff and primary care)

Number of extranet users

Number of people registered on Workplace by Facebook

Average open rate * *We have changed the way we send out daily staff and primary care briefings and are currently unable to access open rates

Average number of users per week

60

715

449

N/A

289

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Number of live consultations/engagements

Number of people involved in our events / activities

Number of parliamentary enquiries

Number of engagement events / activities

Number of people signed up to network

Number of PQs responded to on time

2319

0

2

N/A

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Maternity and neonatal services – our 12 week consultation closed on 5 April 2020. We received 1554 online survey responses, held 4 drop-in events (with 29 attendees) and our partner Voluntary Action Leeds’ (VAL) Leeds Voices team carried out 10 focus groups (114 attendees) with ‘harder to reach’ communities. Several planned focus groups had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. All of the data collected has now been passed to external research organization, Brainbox, who are analysing the data and writing up the final report, which is due in May. Cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation engagement – Ran from 2 – 31 March 2020, and aimed to gather feedback about existing cardiac (heart) and pulmonary (lung) rehabilitation programmes to help shape future development. We received 106 responses to our online survey (71 for the cardiac rehab survey and 35 for the pulmonary rehab survey). VAL planned to carry out focus groups but these had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Patient Choice deliberative event – 68 Leeds citizens attended this event on 14 March to help us understand how important choice is for people accessing health and care services. Qa Research facilitated the event, and will analyse the data and write up the final report.

Annual assessments – we provided a summary of our engagement activities for the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Healthcare Partnership’s consultation mapping (December 2018 - April 2020). CCG volunteers – our volunteers are supporting 11 different commissioning and other steering groups. During March and April we held 10 mentoring sessions with our volunteers, most of which took place remotely, by phone or video call. We continue to provide fortnightly newsletters, and held a virtual volunteer peer support session on 22 April 2020. Five volunteers attended the session. Patient Assurance Group (PAG) – the March PAG was cancelled as there was no formal business, and the April PAG was cancelled due to the pandemic. Patient participation groups (PPGs) - The closing date for applications for PPG funding was in March. We received a total of 16 applications, representing 48 GP practices across the city. 11 projects were awarded a portion of just over £25,000 to develop projects to address and reduce health inequalities. Patient members from the PPG Network met with CCG staff on 11 March to review and score the potential applications. The PPG Toolkit is currently being reviewed and updated.

Reader group - over the last two months, one patient resource was reviewed by the group. 7 people gave feedback about the ACE (Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate) diagnostic pathway survey. WE-Ngage - Monthly newsletter about engagement work in Leeds, sent to all members of the CCG network. Editions were sent out in March and April. CCG patient network – we are reviewing and updating our patient network, including adding over 250 new members as a result of our recent engagement activities. BIG Leeds Chat – we continue to support the BLC by attending virtual meetings #WeeklyCheckIn – we are currently supporting our partners in Leeds to collect real-time feedback from local about their experience of Covid-19. This feedback will be shared with senior leaders and used to shape our response to the pandemic.

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Covid-19 – we will continue to support the Leeds system with clear and consistent communications as we move into the next phase of the pandemic. Big Thank You – we will continue to promote the campaign during the pandemic. Internal communications – we will be supporting the organisation to communicate with colleagues as we move into a ‘new normal.’ New campaigns – we will be working with commissioning colleagues to look at which campaigns we need to progress during the year, including Seriously Resistant, our campaign to tackle anti-microbial resistance. Website accessibility – we will be working to ensure our websites and extranets meet new public sector accessibility standards. Engagement groups and meetings - these are no longer taking place in person but groups continue to meet virtually. Leeds Voices – The contract with Leeds Voices is currently on hold amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Staff from the Leeds Voices project have been re-deployed to support Covid-19 related volunteering activity in the city. Involving You – our annual report on engagement will be completed in May 2020 and digital copies will be distributed through our networks. Comms and engagement guidance for primary care – over the next two months we will be developing guidance for primary care on how to meet their statutory duties to engage on service change. This will provide clarity on responsibilities as well as example scenarios, tools and resources. CCG volunteer handbook – over the next two months we will update and develop our CCG volunteer handbook. The handbook will support our volunteers and provide information on relevant policies.

If you wish to contact us, please use the details below:

NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group Suites 2- 4, WIRA House, West Park Ring Road, Leeds LS16 6EB

Tel: 0113 843 5470 Email: leedsccg.comms@nhs.net Website: www.leedsccg.nhs.uk Facebook: facebook.com/nhsleeds Twitter: @nhsleeds

If you have special communication needs or would like this information in another format or in a different language, please contact us or ask a carer or friend to contact us on 0113 8435457.