Steph Wood gave a presentation to the council members who were able to attend our fist in-person council meeting since Covid.
This bespoke seminar was for South East Clinical Senate council members to better understand best practice with regard to engagement, involvement, and consultation to help deliver NHS service change. By the end of the seminar members will be better placed to know ‘what good looks like’ when reviewing and assessing the engagement and consultation elements of pre-consultation business cases and service change proposals.
The seminar:
- refreshed members’ knowledge around the legal duties and statutory requirements regarding involvement and consultation
- provided an opportunity to discuss expectations of health and care systems in terms of what they can and should reasonably do to meet these duties, and some of the challenges they face
- looked at the importance and outcomes of good clinical engagement in service change
- looked at the importance and outcomes of effectively involving patients and the public in service change
- set out what a comprehensive consultation plan and consultation document should cover (part of pre-consultation business case submissions)
- provided an opportunity for members to share experience, learning and issues encountered in your assurance role on this aspect of service reconfiguration.
It was well received with the following comments from attendees:
‘Clear, honest conversation helps co-production and reduces the risk of legal challenge’
‘Reinforcing the importance of true person centred conversations with all stakeholders’
‘Defining unbiased methodologies and exploring ‘non predetermined’ options for consideration when reviewing PCBC’
Attendees suggested the following topics for future council meetings:
- Maybe a case study to demonstrate the benefit of the senate review and what happened next.
- Understanding accountability and governance within the senate
- Talk on ‘Integrating Primary care’ or ‘Coastal inequalities’
