Message from Kristina Leonnet:

Welcome to the August edition of Partners with People.

August is upon us, and with it sunshine for your holidays. Thus, this month we bring a shorter newsletter, but still lots of opportunities to get involved!

As many of you will know this month, we said a temporary goodbye to Sophie Lowry who is on leave till the end of the year. I am so pleased to be able to cover the role and be involved in the amazing involvement work at the HIN. Additionally, it’s been great to connect with our partners outside of the HIN and learn more about your job. There are so many amazing involvement projects taking place – and I look forward to supporting and showcasing these over the coming months.

Among these, we are excited to be launching a new patient resource focusing on Cancer & Serious Mental Illness. See below for more details, and please do share this through your networks to help reach as many people as possible and reduce cancer inequalities.

Many of you will have met Faith and Aurora, our two Lived Experience Partners at the HIN. Faith and Aurora recorded a short video explaining their role – which is unique in the sector. They do not replace Experts by Experience, but rather bring a wider, more strategic voice for patient engagement, ensuring that real-life experiences shape impactful outcomes.

As always, we are very interested in hearing from anyone with an interest in this area and are happy to include any partner updates in future newsletters. Please contact me if there is anything you’d like to share or discuss.

Blog – Closing the Loop

Experience-based co-design - Pulmonary Rehab 

Patient preferences and experiences of waiting for heart surgery

Blog series – Innovation Accelerator

Invitation for women who have given birth early, and/or their partners or main supporter

Hebe Davies-Colley at the HIN South London is looking to speak with women who live in London and gave birth early (ideally between 22 to 34 weeks), and/or their partners or main supporters.

She is particularly interested to hear from Black and south Asian families as studies show they are more likely to have a preterm baby, but welcomes people of all ethnicities,

Hebe will be holding sessions (online and in person) to hear:

• What do you think about the preterm information currently given?
• How should hospitals explain what to expect if you have a preterm baby?
• If it would be helpful to have a video of neonatal units?

Learn more and register your interest, or email h.davies-colley@nhs.net if you have questions.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Information Feedback Opportunity

Join the Vitacam study: Exploring digital health innovations for heart failure and respiratory disease

London South Bank University and Vitacam are conducting an exploratory study on the usability of Vitacam in patients living with Heart Failure (HF) or chronic respiratory disease. Vitacam is a software program (App) designed for use by clinicians, carers and patients, that measures and records vital signs for clinical assessment of current condition and deterioration.

The founder of Vitacam is participating in the DigitalHealth.London Leap Programme, supporting diverse innovators in the adoption of their solutions.  They are looking for patients with Heart Failure or respiratory diseases to try to apply and share their experiences of this as part of the study.

If you are interested please get in touch with Kerry Wood for more information. 

Help shape the future of services to manage heart conditions in south east London

Are you living with heart disease or have recently been treated for a heart condition? Would you like to help shape the future of services to help manage your heart condition, such as programmes of exercise, education or mental health support?

Mabadiliko CIC is working with the South East London NHS partners to understand diverse community members’ attitudes towards and experiences of cardiac rehabilitation services and tailor these services to meet their needs.

Mabadiliko would like to hear from you if you are an adult (18 years old+) from South London with lived experience of heart disease (either personally or through the care of a loved one), and identify with one or more of the following target groups: 

• People who are living in deprived areas and/or in poverty;
• People living with physical disabilities;
• Older adults;
• People who identify as Black African and Caribbean;
• People who identify as South Asian.

If you would like to be involved, please complete the following short registration survey, which also contains more information about the project and what’s involved.

Addressing the barriers to people-centred
clinical research

The NHS Health Research Authority has shared a new report with recommendations for addressing barriers to people-centred clinical research. Learn more about this study

 Help shape the future of Women’s and Girl’s Health in South East London

We would like to understand how women and girls in south east London wish to engage with and access healthcare. This will help inform the development of Women and Girls' Health Hubs in South East London. They are keen to hear from about a range of areas including:

• What health services and support are most important to women and girls in our community? How can these services be delivered so they are easier to access?
• How can we ensure women and girls in our diverse communities have access to knowledge and information about their health and wellbeing?
• What are the barriers women and girls in your community face in relation to health?
• What could we do to remove these barriers so that everyone has access to the care and support they need, regardless of where they live or their situation?

You can find out more including how to share your views here.

Help shape better diabetes care for everyone in south east London

South East London ICS has set up a partnership with Food for Purpose CIC and aims to work with local people living with diabetes to co-design an action plan for the identified concerns/recommendations and begin creating and testing solutions.

As part of this work, we will continue engaging with local communities with lived experience of diabetes in particular from the African Caribbean, South Asian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Latin American.

If you are living with diabetes or at risk of diabetes and belong to African, Caribbean, South Asian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, or Latin American communities, we would love to hear from you.

Please reach out to us at admin@foodforpurpose.org.

Share your views on contacting your General Practice online

South East London ICS team is dedicated to improving how people and their communities interact with healthcare professionals, aiming to make NHS access easier and faster.

One of the key tools they offer is online consultations. This allows patients to send messages or emails to their GP surgery with health queries and to receive responses from the most appropriate healthcare professional, whether it's a GP, nurse, pharmacist or occupational therapist.

They're keen to improve these tools and would love to hear your thoughts about and views on online consultations. Your feedback is invaluable as they work to refine our services and ensure our new system meets your needs.

Complete the short survey. 

For more opportunities to get involved via SEL ICB please visit Let’s Talk Health and Care South East London 

NHS England: Making a difference by becoming a Peer Leader 

1. Implementing shared decision-making in practice, 2 September. This webinar will look at how to make shared decision-making standard practice across the whole of healthcare.
2. The Patient Safety Commissioner in conversation, 2 September. This will be the third year the Commissioner has taken part in Patient Partnership Week. Join this session to hear about the work her team has done over the last year.
3. Empowering patients as equal partners in care, 4 September, with Prof Havi Carel, University of Bristol. "Why aren't patients treated as equals in their own care?" In this webinar, Prof Carel will discuss why some healthcare professionals ignore, dismiss, or explain away patients' testimonies about their health.
4. The role of data in joining services around patients, 6 September, with Ming Tang, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, NHS England. Ming will discuss the potential of data to improve the delivery of care and safeguards to protect data.
5. Other events are being added - visit the Patients Association’s events page

Co-Production Collective: Co-Pro cuppa

PxP Conference

Co-produced statements as powerful conversation starters

Co-production collective resource library 

The Patient Experience Library

Adopting the Triangle of Commitment to work in partnership