Engaging Communities - Consult
‘To consult – to give or get help, advice or information’
Engaging Communities consults with local people to seek their opinion in order to understand what is important to them, and how they view services and service providers. Other organisations consult with Engaging Communities, seeking their advice and to tap into the knowledge they have regarding local communities.
Organisational Review - Newlands Furniture Service:
Newlands Furniture Service (NFS), in partnership with Thorpe Edge Community Project (TECP), successfully applied for lottery funding to develop the Food Hub, based at York House, Thorpe Edge. As a result of receiving funding, the project was eligible for capability funding. One of the areas NFS identified that would be particularly helpful to the organisation was an Organisational Review to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for development and sustainability of the project and organisation over the next five years.
Engaging Commuities were commissioned by NFS in Spring 2019 to carry out an Organisation Review.
Public Consultation:
Engaging Communities carried out some consultation in the BD10 area for Bradford District and Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Groups. This was in partnership with Newlands Community Association and was questionnaire based and telephone interviews.
The aim was to gain a better understanding of patient satisfaction around the use of their GP Surgery.
The consultation took place at Inspire Bradford Business Park's Christmas Market on Saturday 28th November 2015.
All those that completed a questionnaire or telephone interview were entered into a free draw for a Christmas Hamper.
The draw took place on Thursday 3rd December 2015. The lucky winner was Claire Jennings from Eccleshill. Well done Claire and thank you for taking part.
Organisational Review - Thorpe Edge Community Project:
Engaging Communities has recently completed an Organisational Review for Thorpe Edge Community Project (TECP).
The review examined the following:
- Context in which TECP works, review the current funding situation on each of its projects activities
- Potential impact of public sector cuts (Public Health, Youth Services and Children’s Centres
- Identify which factors are within TECP control and those outside
- How TECP is perceived by other organisations, exploring what outside organisations think of TECP, e,g potential partners or rivals?
Methods used:
- Consultation and focus groups with Management Committee Trustees
- Group work using small groups with staff and volunteers – semi-structured questionnaires
- Individual interviews with key workers in the area – semi-structured questionnaires
- Individual interviews with service and non service users - using a semi-structured questionnaire
In total, 43 individuals were consulted as part of the review. Having carried out the Organisational Review, Engaging Communities developed an Action Plan for TECP which is currently being implemented.
Developing a Model of Social Prescribing:
Social Prescribing schemes, in various forms, have been trialled in primary care for a number of years now, some more successfully than others. Research undertaken in Rotherham showed that social prescribing is a cost effective way of helping patients access support services outside of the NHS and also reduces inappropriate use of GP appointments.
Trust Primary Care, a group of GP practices across Bradford, approached Engaging Communities to advise on the design of a pilot social prescribing scheme which would involve Wellbeing Workers being based in a number of GP practices. Engaging Communities were very familiar with the idea of social prescribing, having delivered a successful scheme in a previous role.
Engaging Communities suggested several possible options for Trust Primary Care, enabling them to make best use of the funding available and also ensuring Wellbeing Workers were trained in the use of System One, safeguarding, information governance etc. Consulting with Engaging Communities meant Trust Primary Care were able to maximise the number of practices taking part in this pilot, and the Wellbeing Workers implemented a recognised evaluation tool to measure the progress of patients.