Further to the publication of the King’s Fund’s ‘patients as partners', the CCG has continued to invest in Strategic Patient Partners (SPPs). These are individuals who have an active interest in the NHS. They have a high level of knowledge about how the CCG and other local NHS organisations work.

SPPs emerge naturally, through the relationships the CCG builds with people who want to take their involvement to the next level. They provide a highly-engaged and strategic patient voice.

SPPs have a keen interest in all aspects of health. They have an established relationship with the CCG and they take part in the vast majority of engagement opportunities. They are a sounding board and critical friend; the CCG considers them an extension of the communications and engagement team.

SPPs will be encouraged to share their experiences with other people who are committed to the CCG’s engagement model, to demonstrate the breadth of patient engagement the CCG undertakes.

Find out more

• Read more about the role of a Strategic Patient Partner
• Meet our Strategic Patient Partners - click on the profiles below.

Review of the CCG's complaints policy and information leaflet

In line with best practice we regularly review our policies and information leaflets. We want to ensure that the information we produce is accessible and relatable for local people.

During January and February 2020, we began to review our complaints policy and information leaflet, and we are working closely with our SPPs to do this.

In Februar,y we held a workshop where our SPPs and Complaints Team came together to discuss the current policy and leaflet and make suggestions for change. At the first workshop the following issues were identified and raised by our SPPs:

• The language within the policy and leaflet needs to be in more plain English, being careful not to assume that the reader knows NHS terminology
• Examples need to be included in the documents, so that patients can understand real life scenarios
• The documents need to be clear and transparent, explaining the informal process and formal process, as well as managing individual’s expectations
• An explanation needs to be included in terms of what the CCG’s roles and responsibilities are in terms of complaints about local services.

We are now working on a first draft of our new complaints policy and leaflet and will be meeting with our SPPs again on the next version of these important public facing documents.