A summary of our recent communications and involvement activity
Recent media coverage
We’ve issued 16 media releases in the past two months, primarily focusing on different elements of the Covid-19 vaccination programme and on mental health. As part of this work, we’ve also arranged several radio and television interviews, in partnership with the regional vaccination team and our colleagues at NHS England.
- Snow patrol! Local volunteers answer call for help from Leeds GP practice – Alwoodley Medical Centre in north Leeds had a crew of volunteers to help clear snow so that it could deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to nearly 1200 people.
- How the COVID-19 vaccine is an important part of the solution – Imam Qari Asim writes about the importance of having the vaccine and encourages people from BAME communities to have the vaccine when invited.
- NHS in Leeds issues serious warning: do not fall for COVID-19 vaccine scams – The NHS in Leeds issued a serious warning to the general public about COVID-19 vaccine scams.
- Children’s Mental Health Week (1-7 February) – for Children’s Mental Health Week, the NHS encouraged young people in Leeds to speak to others about how they’re feeling and to seek help if they needed to.
- Health and care staff urged to look after their mental health – Jim Barwick, Chief Executive of Leeds GP Confederation, one of over 140 health and care organisations to have signed up to support a new West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (WYHHCP) suicide prevention campaign, explains why he supports the campaign.
- Mr Carnival urges people to have their Covid vaccinations – Arthur France MBE, the founder of Europe’s oldest West Indian Carnival urges people to have their COVID-19 vaccine when it’s offered, as he has had his vaccination.
You can find all our press releases on our website: https://www.leedsccg.nhs.uk/news/
Current communications campaigns & activity
Covid-19 vaccination programme – our team has continued to lead the #TeamLeeds communications approach, working closely with all our partners on the vaccination programme to provide updates for health and social care staff, elected members and other key stakeholders. In addition we are linking in with national and regional efforts to increase vaccine confidence, while also managing expectations for those eager to get vaccinated. This has included working with local and national colleagues to develop and share comprehensive communications resources in a range of formats and languages and developing our website to create a repository of up to date vaccination information for the city.
Covid-19 response in addition to the vaccination programme, we continue to support efforts to remind people to access services appropriately, advise people how services are currently experiencing a delay and support efforts to get people tested should they have symptoms.. Our #NHSHereForYou campaign continues to highlight the importance of seeking appropriate medical help for health concerns.
Data shows that people aged 60 and above are at greatest risk of developing health complications should they get COVID-19. We are working with colleagues in partner organisations to develop and promote a wellbeing safety campaign aimed at the over 60s, Take Care Leeds.
Other key areas of work include:
Campaigns – we are aware that a number of activities need to continue to encourage appropriate health seeking behaviour. Therefore we have been supporting regional and national information and awareness campaigns, for example around Dry January, Time to Talk Day, Help Us to Help You and the West Yorkshire and Harrogate staff suicide prevention campaign.
We are supporting communications around system resilience and around mental health for adults, children and young people. Along with our engagement colleagues, we have been working with the Children’s Commissioning team and a third sector partner to develop a wellbeing pack to share with youth groups across the city, building good links with a network of local organisations which support young people. We have also continued to support public health colleagues with the 2020-21 flu vaccination campaign.
City/regional meetings and representation – we continue to hold key roles as part of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate communications network and the Leeds citywide communications network
Internal communications – we have continued our regular (three times a week) briefings for primary care and CCG staff and support our chief executive with regular team briefs via Microsoft Teams Live. These have been especially important during recent weeks, as our transformation programme, Shaping our Future, moves into its implementation phase.
Primary care communications – we continue to support practices by providing patient-facing materials, social media advice and media relations guidance, including press releases to highlight good news stories. We have worked closely with primary care networks to ensure they have up to date resources and materials for their vaccinations clinics.
System resilience – we continue to work with colleagues across the city to ensure clear, consistent and effective communications during this period of unprecedented pressure on health and care services.
Website accessibility – we continue to ensure that all our websites and extranets meet accessibility standards introduced in September 2020.
Involvement activity
As a result of the ongoing pandemic, most of our involvement activities currently take place online.
The Avenue Surgery closure – during the six week engagement, 26 people responded to our online survey and 29 people attended two online focus groups. The report will be completed in March 2021.
CCG volunteers – We continue to provide online volunteer mentoring.
Childhood trauma insight review – We are working with the Children’s Commissioning Team to support a trauma-informed approach in Leeds. The report will be completed in March 2021.
COVID-19 vaccination experience – building on work started by LCH and LTHT, we have gathered feedback from people getting their COVID-19 vaccination at three primary care sites. We are planning ways to collect more feedback from all the vaccination centres across the city.
COVID-19 community champions – we are working with regional involvement colleagues and with community groups and networks, local authority, third sector and NHS partners in Leeds, to support local communities to access up-to-date fact-based information about the vaccination programme.
ICSs – we supported NHS England with the consultation on Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), promoting the consultation on our website and in We-Ngage.
Involving You – we are working on our annual involvement report, which is due to be published in May.
Leeds Voices – the CCG commissions Voluntary Action Leeds to support our involvement with diverse communities. During January and February 2021 Leeds Voices have:
- Worked on the Winter Preparation Engagement
- Held an evaluation event with stakeholder which was attended by the CCG
- Started writing their annual report
Mental Health (MH) community commissioning review – Involvement activity was assured at the January Patient Assurance Group but work has been paused. The review will restart as restrictions and workloads begin to ease.
Patient Assurance Group (PAG) – a PAG meeting took place in January with three CCG volunteers in attendance. The PAG provided assurance on the involvement plan for developing adult mental health community services and on The Avenue GP Surgery closure engagement.
Patient and Community Engagement (PCE) indicator – we were asked by NHS England to present good practice from our 2019-20 submission. The workshop was well received and we have subsequently supported a number of CCGs with their submissions.
Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) – the PPG toolkit is now live on our website.
Primary care networks engagement – Although work with the Cross Gates PCN has been put on pause due to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, we continue to do preparatory work with Leeds Voices and two CCG volunteers.
Shakespeare Walk-In Centre – we are working with commissioning colleagues to develop involvement activities around the future of health services based at Burmantofts Health Centre.
Upcoming activity
Annual reports – over the next two months we will be preparing our CCG and engagement annual reports for 2020-21. During March and April 2021 we will also be submitting the Patient and Community Engagement (PCE) indicator for 2020/2021.
Big Leeds Chat (BLC) – we will be working with the steering group to develop an animation and video to feedback the city response to the first two BLCs. This work will also involve starting to develop the BLC 2021.
Campaigns – we will be working with colleagues to develop new campaigns and communications plans around antimicrobial resistance, advance care planning and mental health. We will continue to support regional and national campaigns.
Covid-19 – we will continue to support the Leeds system with clear and consistent communications about coronavirus and the vaccination programme. We will also be working with partners to analyse insight collected during the pandemic to feed into future communications.
Engagements – we will be working with commissioners to develop and implement engagement plans for podiatry services, minor injuries and community neuro services.
Internal communications – we will continue to look at new ways to engage staff working remotely via our internal communications channels. We will also be increasing efforts to share information that supports emotional health and wellbeing of our colleagues.
Involvement network– Due to the pandemic, work to develop a citywide network was paused. We will be revisiting the project in March 2021.
Left Shift Blue Print – over the next two months we will be working to outline how local people have influenced the development of the LSBP. This will involve pulling together insight from our involvement activities, developing a communications and engagement plan and commissioning a deliberative event.
SAS (Safe Haven) Procurement – together with a CCG volunteer we are involved in the procurement of the new service. The new contract will begin on 1 October 2021.