NHS Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group

On Monday 20 November 2017 Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (the CCG) welcomed representatives from almost 20 GP Patient Participation Groups (PPG) for the second of its bi-annual PPG network events. 

The CCGs Public Engagement Manager, Renee Dickinson opened the event with a short update including:

• the current financial position
• Coastal Care including Local Community Networks (LCNs)
• the CCGs current priority programmes

The focus of this event was primarilly to bring together PPG representatives to share ideas and network freely without the constraints of a formal agenda. The event also provided an opportunity for PPG representatives to develop relationships with neighbouring groups and exchange contact details.

Information from the event

We heard that data protection can be a barrier to communicating with PPG members. To help with this a simple guide offering information about the principles of data protection was shared. 

PPG members were encouraged to join the online forum as this is a useful way to share information and generate discussion. A simple guide explaining how to join the forum has been produced.  

Feedback from the event

The feedback that you gave us was generally encouraging with over 75% saying the event had met your expectations. Many comments told us that you value the opportunity to meet with other PPG representatives and share experiences. You would like to continue to see an update from the CCG at future events particularly the development of Local Community Networks.

Several of you requested paper copies of the presentations to be available on the day and we will consider this for future events.

Suggestions for future events

One suggestion was to explore how to involve younger people to ensure their voice is being heard.