Ashfield community NHS transformation scheme marks landmark

A Mid Notts Launch event was held in April for the Mid Notts projects serving Ashfield, Mansfield and Newark, with partners from across the community invited to be members of the local design teams – members included representatives from health, social care, the voluntary sector, district councils and communities.

Ashfield’s first 100-day design cycle, from June-September, saw ‘generative listening’ training offered to all LDT membersm while volunteers and notetakers visited the community assets to have guided conversations.

Three areas of focus were identified from the community conversations:

Information sharing and community engagement – Explore communication methods, potential for Nottingham Trent University projects, digital platforms, digital inclusion, other communication options; Understanding people’s history and background – Communication across partners/organisation, e.g. Green Cross system, ID wristbands to demonstrate medical status, survey; Youth clubs and youth activities – Community asset mapping, holiday activity fund, family hubs, intergenerational activities, council funding, connecting with younger people via social media.

The aim of mapping the community assets available for our local people was to:

Connect people to their community; Increase engagement in activities/groups/clubs/courses etc.; Increase engagement in wider social interaction; Encourage wider community participation.

The Lions Club provided pots – known as ‘message in a bottle’ – to keep personal Information/prescription details in the fridge to alert emergency services if in attendance. These were distributed by AVA and AGE UK.

A show-and-tell event was held to celebrate the work done so far and to share some of the conversation outcomes and themes.

Key successes include:

Collaborating non-competitively, committed to making practical changes; Establishing relationships of trust within the Local Design Team and with the immediate and wider communities; Information sharing and collaborative learning; Start of a meaningful plan of small changes that will make a big difference.

Going forward, the next steps include:

Share best practice across LDTs; Listen better to our community and ensure their voice really helps to design and shape local services; Further focus on communication with communities and wider system partners; Capturing the benefits for people in the community, system partners, organisations; Identification of measures and metrics.

For furtther information, or to get involved, email [email protected]