Population Health Planning Workshops.

The population health team held three virtual engagement sessions to help gather feedback on the proposed ICS Population Health Operating Model from key local stakeholders on Thursday 8^th July. Each session covered an area of Morecambe Bay – Lancaster, South Lakeland and Craven and Barrow & Millom.  

In total 89 people attended with representatives from health, local authorities and the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise sector. 

There was a broad consensus supporting the proposed model and key strands of work, although it was acknowledged that the audience would have benefitted from having more time to have review the detailed proposals prior to the workshops.

Whilst each area has it’s own unique challenges and opportunities, a number of common themes emerged. In particular there was a strong focus on co-production and joint working between the public sector and the communities, the importance of recognising lived experience and the vital role of the VCFSE in successfully implementing this approach.

It was also acknowledged that there was a need for cultural shift and in order to achieve this there needs to be more engagement with the community and in particular the hard-to-reach groups.   

Claire Niebieski, System Population Health Manager, said “I’m really pleased with how these workshops turned out. By bringing together people from different sectors we were able to identify the challenges, as well as create space for conversations between likeminded people. Whilst we have not yet completed a detailed analysis of the feedback, it was clear that all three areas have passionate people who want to improve the health and wellbeing of people around Morecambe Bay.”

"I was particularly pleased to hear views from outside the health sector, we have such a vast array of talented, kind and helpful people across Morecambe Bay and it is absolutely right that we not only listen to their opinions but put their talents to good use."