Independent review of involvement

Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership Board (HCP) – a committee of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) – had made plans before the COVID-19 pandemic to move services out of Shipley Hospital as it was no longer considered a clinically suitable venue from which modern health services could be delivered. They undertook a series of involvement work with the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC), who requested that a plan be formulated to engage the public using several methods including a survey, face-to-face questions, press releases, a webpage, and a frequently asked questions document.

 

At this stage, keeping the hospital open was a potential option, but the project was heavily disrupted by the pandemic. In January 2022, the NHS Property Services determined that keeping the hospital open in any capacity did not represent value for money. Therefore, other viable options needed to be presented to the public.

 

Stand was appointed by Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership to review previous involvement activities, so experiences and views of patients were not lost and were considered in all steps of the review, and to develop a programme of patient and public engagement to ensure they could fulfil their duty to involve the public when they close Shipley Hospital.

 

Following the situation review we prepared, it was apparent that the quality of engagement work that had already taken place was very high. It allowed us to work with the HCP to prepare and deliver a comprehensive programme of public and patient involvement to ensure engagement with all relevant stakeholders which included:

 

• Drop-in sessions
• Printed materials
• Media/social media
• Written briefings
• Face-to-face meetings

 

As a result of our combined efforts (Stand and HCP), we were able to get widespread media coverage of the project across local radio, print media, and social media.

 

We prepared a consultation document for the HCP so that, if they chose to, they could take it to a full public consultation, subject to engagement with HOSC and NHS England. The HCP has used this document to perform another round of engagement work which ran from July to August 2023.

 

The involvement insight report is available here. The findings in this report will be used to shape the next phase of work to complete the review for the future of Shipley Hospital and ensure citizen involvement in any plans to reinvest the proceeds from the sales of the site to the local health system, specifically in the Shipley locality.

 

Shak Rafiq, Associate director communications and involvement at Bradford and Craven Health and Care Partnership, said:

 

“While there was a clearly defined scope and spec for our commissioned work with Stand, we valued the additional support that was offered that fell outside the spec. I’d have no hesitation in seeking expertise from Stand in the future, it has benefitted us immensely as well as helping myself and my team to further develop ourselves so we can be equipped for future engagement and consultation activity.”