The People & Communities Assembly

The Integrated Care Partnership facilitate the strategic People and Communities work in Suffolk and North East Essex. We facilitate the People and Communities Assembly. Everyone is welcome to join! The People and Communities Assembly help to shape how people are involved in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of health and care services. The group develop and learn from each other – a community of practice for involvement, co-production and co-delivery.

Use the sign up form at the bottom of this page to join!

When we refer to ‘people and communities’, this means everyone who lives, and uses services, in Suffolk and North East Essex. There are over 1.1 million people who use, access, or who will need to access health and care services, including family carers, in Suffolk and North East Essex. Each are individuals. Each individual also may belong to a number of different communities, that may be based on their geographical area, identified by a health condition or life experience, or a characteristic such as their ethnicity, gender identity or having a disability.

People are powerful leaders and advocates for their own health, care and wellbeing, and that of their communities. Therefore, health and care services and organisations must work in partnership with people and communities to help them to prevent poor health in the ways that they know work best. By working with people from the full diverse range of communities that form our society, health and care services can be specifically tailored to meet everybody’s needs better.

Statutory organisations, such as local authorities and the NHS, have a legal duty to involve people and communities. They must arrange opportunities for members of the public to get involved in planning, proposals, and decisions regarding health and care services.

The People and Communities Assembly formed through workshops and meetings with people and communities since November 2024, where people discussed how they wanted to work together. Our six working principles are:

Working Principle
Insight & Oversight	Both ‘lived’ and ‘learned’ experience from the start - a 45° approach Give oversight - guide the direction and development of engagement, co-production and co-delivery Gain insight - involve people from people, communities and workforce where they are
Equity & Diversity	All voices have equal value Act to include missing voices Listen and have trust Aim to reduce health inequalities
Accessibility & Communication	Plain English and no acronyms Engage using different methods: 1. Group meetings 2. Bespoke involvement in the community 3. Let’s Talk SNEE online platform Honest, transparent and clear expectations, goals and next steps Continuous feedback loop
Community-focused	Partner with voluntary sector organisations & community groups Build relationships Reward, remuneration & recognition Focus on ‘Jobs to be Done’
Future-focused	Enable sustainable involvement embedded across the Integrated Care System Future Shift: Our collective vision for a more viable future using our ‘untapped potential’ Preventative and community-based service design and co-delivery
Learning	Be a community of practice for engagement, co-production and co-delivery Reflect and evaluate approaches Not one-size-fits-all Safe space to try out approaches together

Supporting groups to the People and Communities Assembly

To ensure an effective approach, the Integrated Care Partnership facilitate two groups which support the People and Communities Assembly:

1. Facilitators Programme Board
   Engagement and co-production workforce – networking, best practice, consistency of approach and demonstrating collective impact. Drive forward ‘Future Shift’. Contribute to an annual impact report and event.
   
   
2. System Governance Group
   Managing the interface between People & Communities and the wider system – those leading and supporting the various ways we work as an ICS, connecting to ICB Board, ICP Committee and other statutory forums.

The three groups form the ICS’s ‘function’ for working in partnership with people and communities, to support and encourage all system partners to adhere by the 10 principles for working in partnership with people and communities (NHS England, 2022).

How can I be part of this work?

Please sign up to the People and Communities work using the form below. You will be added to the future meeting invites and sent all relevant information.

If you have any queries or want to chat anything over, please contact Su Conquer, Co-production Lead for SNEE Integrated Care Partnership: su.conquer@snee.nhs.uk / 07729 826502