Great examples of Co-production

NHS North Cumbria CCG and Cumbria County Council collaborated to jointly co-produce an ‘open space event’ at Brathay Trust near Ambleside.

There were 2 events – one for those under the age of 12 and one for those between 12 and 18.

The sessions were designed to  give the children and young people the opportunity to raise issues important to them about their health and care and develop future plans to improve services.

Our Cumbria Learning and Improvement Collaborative (CLIC) works with teams across our health and care system focusing on how frontline staff can make their service more efficient and successful.

Rapid Process Improvement Workshops (RPIW) involve frontline staff and patients looking at ways of improving the way teams work and patient experience.

Recent examples include:

– A+E workshop in September 2017

The Cumberland Infirmary team identified duplications and other efficiencies saving them  600 hours a year which is now spent on patient care.

When beds at some community hospitals were threatened with closure communities were concerned about what it could mean for them. Working with active community groups, councillors, staff, social care teams and local GPs to create Alliances,  the NHS was able to start to develop local plans to offer alternative services.

Despite the tensions and fears about changes to services, all the communities affected have drawn up new plans which are now being considered by the NHS and the Alston Alliance work with the NHS to develop plans.

The NHS Child Health App has been developed by paediatric specialists and health visitors in the north east in 2016 and was extended into north Cumbria in the summer of 2017.

It provides trusted advice for parents of children aged between 0-5 years on common childhood illnesses and ailments. It also provides information about nearby health centres and pharmacists.

The NHS worked with members of the Working Together Children’s Group to plan how to share the information with networks and communities across north Cumbria.

More than 900 downloads have taken place in Cumbria.

The NHS North Cumbria CCG’s Childrens Team organised an ‘open space event’ with young people living with autism.

Working with the youngsters at a day-long session at the Brathay Trust near Ambleside, the team explored health and social care issues affecting young people with autism.

The issues were identified through a series of workshops where they were supported to talk honestly and openly. It resulted in focusing the minds of health and social care professionals involved in supporting these young people and shaping services to work better for them.

The Experience of Care at Distance Group was agreed by Senior Leadership Board to focus on co-produced solutions to mitigate the impact of receipt of care at distance to where people live, including both transport and non-transport issues, and enabling overarching co-ordination of transport and access associated issues.

Various work is taking place on the group to try and improve the experience of healthcare users and staff relating to the delivery of care distant to where people live and work.

One of the areas of work covered as part of this group was the creation of an information leaflet for patients.

This work is still developing for different hospital sites across Cumbria. A pilot has started with a leaflet sent to patients attending the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle. Other versions of the leaflets are planned to follow soon.