You Said We Did – Tameside Health Improvement Service Consultation

We Asked Be Well was contracted to run Tameside’s wellbeing service, supporting people in Tameside to improve their health and prevent illness. Be Well offered services such as smoking cessation, weight management or diet help, sleep and stress management.

The Health Improvement contract was due to expire, however before the contract was renewed or changed, the service was looking for the views of service users and the wider public to help design what the new service would look like. It was also identified that there were possible savings to be made when considering future commissioning. The consultation asked for views on how potential changes to the service may impact them, and for any suggestions for what the new service should look like. There were two options – to re-tender the existing service or to terminate the contract and transfer the service in-house and retain financial control.

There were over 130 respondents to the online survey component of the consultation. Feedback was also gathered from a series of 6 focus groups/workshops held with 4 different community organisations and also collected through a group session with staff from the Be Well service themselves. Concerted effort was made to gather feedback from under-represented and protected characteristic groups. The use of a mixed approach aimed to maximise opportunity for the public to take part in the consultation process. Some of the key points that arose from the consultation are as follows:

A need to maintain both a digital and face-to-face offer, as well as group and individual sessions to make the service more accessible to all.
A general feeling that the integrated, broader wellness offer was beneficial and that whilst a more targeted offer had some benefits respondents preferred an integrated service.
Community outreach and engagement and working with partners was considered a key benefit of the service.
There was a great deal of positive feedback about the way the current service was run and people were grateful for the input they had received, particularly in smoking cessation.
There was a general feeling that the service was well recognised and respected by the community and other professionals, but that work would need to be done to maintain relationships and promote the service more widely.

The findings of the consultation were collated by the service into a report which went to decision-makers. The report considered the issues raised by individuals who responded. In conclusion, it was felt that on balance, the option to transfer the service in-house was preferable. This was because it provided additional financial savings and allowed a greater flexibility around continued provision of the service to meet priorities and service demand.

Consultation ran for:

12 Weeks

from:

19/02/21

to:

13/05/21

Documents