Five new public events have been announced giving people in Somerset further opportunities to have their say on early thinking about improvements to community health and care services.
As part of Fit for My Future’s engagement programme, 48 public events have taken place so far, with a further 33 planned over the coming weeks. These include drop-in events at libraries, talking cafes and colleges.
These additional public events have been arranged to take place at weekends and evenings and there is one in each district area. The format for each event is a short presentation sharing early thinking, followed by facilitated focus groups and feedback.
|
Area |
Location |
Date |
Time |
More detail and where to book |
|
West Somerset |
Minehead Beach Hotel
|
Saturday 7 March 2020 |
10:00 am – 11:30 am |
www.fitformyfuture.org.uk/event/minehead-community-health-and-care-services-engagement/ |
|
Taunton Deane |
Holiday Inn, Taunton
|
Saturday 7 March 2020 |
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm |
www.fitformyfuture.org.uk/event/taunton-community-health-and-care-services-engagement/ |
|
Mendip |
Shape, Mendip District Council Offices |
Saturday 21 March 2020 |
10:00am – 11.30am |
www.fitformyfuture.org.uk/event/mendip-community-health-and-care-services/ |
|
Sedgemoor |
Somerset Energy Innovation Centre, Bridgwater |
Saturday 21 March 2020 |
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm |
www.fitformyfuture.org.uk/event/sedgemoor-community-health-and-care-services/ |
|
South Somerset |
Yeovil Town Football Club |
Thursday 2 April 2020 |
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm |
www.fitformyfuture.org.uk/event/yeovil-community-health-and-care-services-engagement/ |
Please note: each venue has a capacity of 50.
Alison Rowswell, Deputy Programme Director, Fit for my Future, said: “We know how much people value their local community hospitals and minor injury units and would like to reassure people that no decisions have been made on any closures. This phase of engagement is about gathering people’s views so we can work together to improve community services across Somerset.
“We are looking at developing community hubs that bring together in one place a range of services including mental health, district nursing, on the day treatment for some conditions, hospital outpatient appointments, and diagnostics tests such as x-rays. Some hubs may be based in current community hospital buildings.
“Through our engagement activities we have had the opportunity to talk to a wide range of people including health and care staff about our early thinking to find out what is important for them. We have received some really helpful feedback and listened closely to the experiences that people have shared with us. This will certainly help shape the development of our proposals. But we want to hear from even more people – that’s why we’re running these additional events.
“Using all the feedback we receive, we will develop proposals for the way that Somerset could deliver community health and care services in the future. These will form the basis of full public consultation in the future.”
Events are taking place across Somerset until 12 April when the engagement phase closes, details can be found on the Fit for my Future website www.fitformyfuture.org.uk/events/
You can read more information on this early thinking by viewing the ‘Improving community health and care services for people in Somerset’ engagement document available at GP surgeries, libraries and pharmacies, along with a short questionnaire to fill in to have your say. Alternatively, you can call 01935 384119 or emailing somccg.fitformyfuture@nhs.net
