Get involved with us in East Surrey
In East Surrey we believe in the power of partnership; organisations, professionals, clinicians, and residents working together to create positive health outcomes for local communities.
People and communities are at the centre of everything we do. We want people in East Surrey to get the care and support they need as early as possible, and close to their homes.
This means we recognise and prioritise the importance of engaging with our communities to ensure the services provided locally support early intervention in the management of a range of conditions, and in keeping East Surrey healthy and well.
We want to hear people’s views at every level of health from design to delivery. If you would like to get more involved in the way services are delivered, locally get in touch with us.
Engagement principles
East Surrey Place engagement is based on six key principles.
These principles ensure the voices of people and communities are at the centre of our decision-making, and that we use co-production, insight and engagement to achieve accountable health and care services.
1. Meet people where they are
Going out to public and community spaces; reaching out through existing groups and meetings; running engagements outside of regular working hours; and using both digital and in-person approaches to make sure people can engage in a way that works for them.
2. Be actively inclusive
Working actively to hear from seldom-heard groups in ways that work for them; developing relationships based on trust with these communities; monitoring and evaluating how inclusive and representative our engagement is, and ensuring accessibility.
3. Use language that makes sense to people
Being clear about what organisations, services and geographical boundaries we are referring to when we talk about our partnership; avoiding the use of abstract questions; and using plain language.
4. Listen openly
Keeping an open mind and listening without defensiveness to feedback, and bringing people into conversations early to ensure they can have a say in changes and decisions.
5. Create an ongoing conversation
Always playing back what changed as the result of engagement.
6. Build on what we have in place already
Creating a ‘network of connectors’ within East Surrey who are well-placed to help us reach out widely; learning from existing engagement and sources of insight (e.g. complaints processes, population health data); and developing a clear map of current engagement to build on.