Phase one of our engagement took place between June and August 2021 and we asked the people of Grampian to tell us what is important to them about health and care services. We received over 2,100 detailed responses through our online survey. We heard from members of the public, carers, frequent service users and health and social care staff across Grampian. This told us that the people of Grampian care deeply about their healthcare services and their wellbeing.

During this phase, we also arranged discussion sessions with community groups and health and social care staff teams, which provided a safe space to allow individuals to share both positive and negative experiences about health and care services.

We were able to reach so many people thanks to working closely with our partners, such as Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), Public Health Teams and Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs), to use their knowledge and expertise to help reach communities and groups on the team’s behalf.  These close working relationships will continue into the future to ensure we reach as many communities and individuals as possible, while reducing duplication in this type of engagement.

General feedback on phase one of the engagement process was shared with the public and health and social care staff through the NHS Grampian website and social media, Staff Briefings and via partners’ newsletters.

The survey had six questions for use in both an online survey and arranged discussion sessions with groups (staff and public). The questions were developed and refined with NHS Grampian’s Public Involvement Network (PIN) prior to use with the public and key groups during Phase 1.

Development of materials prior to the launch

• An online survey tool.
• Presentation packs with key messages to encourage participation.
• Feedback forms for use with staff and public groups.
• Paper versions of the survey was also made available.

Facilitated group discussions were held with:

• Staff at varying levels of the organisation and service providers across the health and care system.
• Community groups, e.g. ethnic minorities/gypsy travellers, carer groups, adults with sensory and/or learning disabilities, mental health and alcohol and drugs service user groups.

Public involvement/engagement

A cascade model of engagement was used to reach the wider population. This involved holding discussions and meetings with key partners which covered each of the local authority areas in Grampian (Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray), as well as Grampian-wide groups and organisations.

Key Themes

Five key themes emerged from analysis of survey responses and group discussion:

These were identified as the themes as they were mentioned most often in the survey responses and from the group discussions. More information on these themes are available in the phase one analysis & evaluation report

Analysis of these themes and sub themes were used for the questions in focus groups and engagement sessions during Phase 2, in order to gain more detail to understand barriers and begin looking towards potential solutions. 

In the interests of making best use of such detailed and valuable feedback that people had taken the time to provide, it was important to ensure it was fully used and we minimise duplication. This included the development of a series of ‘Positivitree’ resources, where positive comments praising staff and services were shared with our workforce to highlight that while we received many concerns, we also received many expressions of appreciation.