Local people, patients and carers are at the centre of our plans to improve health care in Kingston. To ensure that this happens there are several ways that local people can get involved in our work and wider health and care services.
We have a programme of community outreach – going in to local grassroots communities and speaking to people we don’t normally hear from. This work is delivered with local Healthwatch organisations.
We may need to do specific pieces of work to shape local services – and we tailor our approach to the needs of each project. For example, we may run a focus group or hold one to one interviews with people affected by a condition or service.
We use Public Health population needs information, service data from providers, and the findings from equality impact assessments to identify who may be affected by the project and therefore who we need to involve. Our engagement plans are regularly reviewed to ensure we are involving the right people.
Our approach to engagement provides more information on the different methods we use to make sure that the patient voice is at the centre of our work, how we work with our colleagues in health and care to do this and how we engage with local people in a way that works for them.
Ways to get involved and have your say
- Join your GP practice patient participation group (PPG)
- Come along and observe one of our meetings in public and take part in question time
- Give your views on local services via our feedback form
- Email us: kingstonccg.engagement@swlondon.nhs.uk
- Call us: 020 3941 9917
- Join our mailing list to find out about opportunities to get involved in shaping our services
- Join Healthwatch Kingston
If you find information on our website hard to find or difficult to understand, please get in touch with us so that we can hear your feedback. We are always happy to provide written information in different formats.
Visit the King’s Fund to find out more about how the NHS works.
Patient and public voice in governance
When we make decisions, we want a range of views to be included. This includes having “lay members” on our governing body and sub-committees. Lay members are members of the public who act as an advocate for public interests.
“Engaging and involving the public and service users in the design and delivery of local health and care services is fundamental to ensuring we have the right services, and that people know where to go and how to use services as effectively as possible.” – Jim Smyllie, our lay member for Patient and Public Engagement
Healthwatch Kingston is a member of our governing body, primary care commissioning committee and other committees.
Across south west London, the patient and public engagement steering group makes sure there is effective lay involvement and public engagement across the South West London Health and Care Partnership.
How we use your feedback
Our latest patient and public engagement review and you said we did page show us how we use your feedback to shape services and inform our work.