Oxfordshire Place-based Partnership: Dan Leveson's Blog, May 2024
I’m often asked how we involve people from Oxfordshire communities in our plans or making changes. There are lots of ways people, communities, families or carers are involved either by responding to surveys, participating in engagement events or being members of patient participation groups. However, we can do more to involve people early and hear what people have to say and we must not underestimate the time, effort and resources these activities need.
That’s why it was great to dedicate time in April’s Place-based Partnership (PBP) to discuss how we, as system leaders, will commit to a programme of health and care conversations during this year. Our communications and engagement experts, with Healthwatch Oxfordshire and others, are helping us design a series of visits to communities. These meetings will be a chance to discuss improvements we’ve made and changes we’re considering. They will also be an opportunity for people in communities to share their thoughts, ideas, concerns and priorities. More to come on these in the coming weeks.
Another thing people ask me is whether we capitalise on all the academic expertise we have in Oxfordshire with two internationally recognised universities and two major academic NHS Trusts. In terms of health alone we are the only city, outside London, with two Biomedical Research Centres supporting research and translation of discoveries. In the Oxford and Thames Valley Applied Research Collaboration and Oxford and Thames Valley Health Innovation Network we have networks that incubate and spread innovations into practice.
So, it was great to have Dr Adam Briggs, Deputy Director of Public Health, at the PBP to discuss the progress of the Oxfordshire Community Research Network (OCRN). Launched in 2023 with the ambition to address local inequalities in health and wellbeing, it brings together community groups and charities with public services and academic institutions to help develop research projects that matter to communities and residents. You can read more about the network in a recent Local Government Chronicle article. The article refers to a recent Healthwatch Oxfordshire report that reviewed community research in the county and identified four guiding principles for how we can do things better:
- Nothing about us without us.
- Commit to action.
- Value lived experience and time.
- Be open, transparent and accountable.
Adam went on to explain how this is part of a wider collaboration between Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford Brookes University and the University of Oxford to support a place-based approach to research. This, alongside things like the joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) and community insight reports which have already proved invaluable in prioritising our prevention and health inequalities programme – more on this and our Prevention and Health Inequalities Forum in a future blog.
Finally, we discussed our operating model considering how we work in Oxfordshire as a partnership with provider collaboratives and with the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB). In Oxfordshire we are building on a solid foundation of joint working between NHS, Local Authority and the voluntary and community sector. We have made notable progress in our partnership, in urgent and emergency care and prevention and inequalities and making inroads in children and young people services and adult and older adult mental health.
To meet the changing needs of our population and to deliver great value care we must adapt and develop new ways of working, with greater emphasis on collaboration, blurring the boundaries of our organisations. In doing this the sum of our parts will deliver outstanding experiences and outcomes for the people of Oxfordshire.
|
