Just over 900 people have had their say on how the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership communicates, and an action plan has been developed based on their views.

A communications survey was carried out over a five-week period during January-February this year with a range of people, including patients, service users and carers; the public; Council and Health staff; Integration Joint Board (IJB) Members and the third and independent sectors among others. To increase participation, there were both web-based and hard copy versions of the survey, and it was shared with a range of groups and networks and made available in range of community facilities/offices.

The survey was an opportunity to ask people about their knowledge of the Partnership and IJB (and its Committees), their work and how to engage with them; how they find out about them; their preferred ways of communication and whether improvements can be made to how the Partnership communicates.

A report on the survey findings was considered by the IJB Public Engagement Committee towards the end of March, and some of the key points included:

• 910 people participated in the survey
• almost everyone knew about/knew a lot about the Partnership – nine in 10 (91%)
• most people knew about/knew a lot about the IJB, just under three-fifths (57%), but just over two-fifths (43%) knew nothing about it
• the majority of people knew about/knew a lot about Integration at a national level (73%) and within Glasgow City (81%)
• while half (50%) of people knew about/knew a lot about the IJB’s/Partnership’s vision statement, half (50%) knew nothing about it
• the majority of people knew how to contact the Partnership (85%) and request a health or social care assessment of service (66%), but the majority did not know how to get involved in a Locality and Engagement Forum (73%) or access IJB and Committee papers (68%)
• the most common ways in which people heard or found out about Health and Social Care Integration, the Partnership or IJB was by the internet (41%), email (30%), staff intranet (29%), staff magazine/newsletter (26%) staff briefing (22%) and the Partnership’s newsletter (21%)
• people’s preferred methods of communicating included the internet (52%), newsletter (48%) and email (45%). Staff briefings (26%), team meetings/immediate line manager (24%) and staff intranet (23%) were also preferred
• the majority of people found some use in the information that had already been communicated about Integration, the Partnership and IJB – around three-quarters (74%)
• around half (53.2%) of people identified how the Partnership can improve its communications, some of which included: increase people’s understanding of Integration, the Partnership and IJB (and its Committees); make available more accessible and good quality information on them (for example, services and how to access them and key priorities, places and people) and be smarter in the way that the Partnership communicates so that a wider audience is captured.

Allison Eccles, Head of Business Development, commented on the survey findings: “Good, effective communications support the Partnership to engage with a range of its stakeholders – the people who it works with and supports – to ensure that they are aware of, understand and inform its work.

“Over the past couple years, we have worked to increase and improve the way in which the Partnership communicates, and the survey findings confirm that we are moving in the right direction. However, the survey has also highlighted areas where we can make further improvements. There is an action plan for how we will do this, and there will be communications developments.”

Some of the action that will be taken forward include:

• develop a new website for the Partnership with more information about Integration, the Partnership and IJB (and its Committees)
• develop a briefing about Integration, the Partnership and IJB – including information on its vision, priorities and services
• develop a ‘news’ webpage on the Parternship’s website and
• investigate different and better ways of communicating with people, particularly hard-to-reach and vulnerable groups.

The full report on the survey findings and action plan are available.