User Engagement

Communications Strategy for Service User/Health and Social Care Worker Engagement

This step requires partners to develop a consistent communications strategy for Service User/Health & Social Care Worker Engagement. The Intended outcome is that patients make informed choices about the most appropriate service for their needs. The mismatch between clinical need and place of attendance is reduced.

Engagement Process


Health and Social Care services should develop an engagement process that:
  • Reduces confusion for service users
  • Takes every opportunity to educate and match future illness/care-seeking behaviour with the service that best meets need
  • Develops the clinical consultation process so that every appropriate Unscheduled Care (USC) encounter is also used to educate/achieve the above

In order to complement the work done at a local level by Health Boards, Public Health Wales will lead an engagement process that reduces confusion for service users. Building on the Choose Well campaign, locally and nationally we must ensure that every appropriate unscheduled care encounter is used as an opportunity to both inform and match future illness/ care-seeking behaviour with the service that best meets need. This will require significant clinical engagement without which existing confusion and health beliefs will be reinforced and any future communication programme will be undermined.

We know that previous USC access behaviour strongly influences future behaviour. Recent work done in Tower Hamlets showed that people attended ED ‘inappropriately’ for four main reasons:

  • They were confused by the USC system
  • They thought that ED was the most (clinically) appropriate place to go
  • ED was accessible and convenient
  • They were dissatisfied with other USC service alternatives

It can be appreciated that from the patient’s viewpoint, that with no explanation to the contrary many of these attendances seem completely appropriate.