This document discusses a 3-year pilot project commissioned by the Department of Health to improve healthcare access for people with learning disabilities. The project partners Mencap and 4 Clinical Commissioning Groups to provide training to GP practices on making reasonable adjustments. It involves 62 volunteers working with 72 practices across 4 pilot sites. The training covers learning disability awareness, communication, reasonable adjustments, and accessible information. Evaluation shows the training is well-received and effective in changing practice. The document discusses measuring the impact of volunteering through various outcomes like lives saved and changing attitudes. It emphasizes using both quantitative and qualitative data to demonstrate impact.

1. Rhea Sinha – Health Project Manager | Chris Reed – Head of Volunteering

2. Rhea Sinha – Health Project Manager | Chris Reed – Head of Volunteering
St John Ambulance
Non-commissioned

3. Paul’s story
Demonstrating the impact of volunteering | 20 March 2014

4. John and Sandra
Demonstrating the impact of volunteering | 20 March 2014
• Community First Responders
• Partnership NHS Ambulance
Trusts
• Highly trained volunteer
• Life-saving first aid and
medical care before an
ambulance arrives

5. SJA Community First Responders
Locally
• Different Trusts, different models
Nationally
• Community AEDs and Local CFR schemes praised by
government
• No statutory funding
• Cost to SJA in London - £30 - £50K per annum
• Difference between a life lost and a life saved
Demonstrating the impact of volunteering | 20 March 2014

6. Rhea Sinha – Health Project Manager | Chris Reed – Head of Volunteering
MENCAP
Commissioned

7. Getting It Right – From The Start project - Introduction
7
 A 3 year pilot project commissioned by the
Department of Health’s Health and Social Care
Volunteering Fund
 Outcomes for the volunteers involved are a major
focus of the project
 Partnership working between Mencap and 4
Clinical Commissioning Groups
 Working with GP Practices on making
‘Reasonable Adjustments’ to Primary Care
services for people who have a learning disability
East Surrey
North Tyneside
Mid Devon +
Exeter
Northamptonshire

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Local Approach, Safe Hands
 Active, highly knowledgeable multi-agency Steering Groups;
Champion and Mentor representatives
 Local Learning Disability Commissioners
 Carers organisations
 All areas very different, key link is Lead GP on learning disability in
each locality

9. GP Surgery buy-ins - Why it Works
 Relationship building with each surgery
 Flexible approach; bespoke service and workshop provided to
surgeries
 Offer ideas and advice that relate to individual surgery
 Work in a way that is organic NOT ‘must do’
 Volunteers delivering workshops to surgeries supported by locality
coordinators
 Action Plan, Easy-read Advice sessions offered as part of project
resource

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Overall, the 4 pilots:
 Involve 62 regular and dedicated volunteers
 Work with 72 GP Practices
 Have delivered 70 Practice Workshops to date
- that have been attended by approximately 800 Practice staff
including a range of individuals, such as: GPs, Practice Nurses, Registrars,
Health Care Assistants, Receptionists, Medical Secretaries and
Patient Participation Group members, phlebotomists and Note Summarisers
 Workshops cover 4 key issues:
Learning Disability Awareness, Communication, Reasonable Adjustments , Easy Read
/ Accessible Information
 Evaluation feedback so far shows that 95% of those who attended would
recommend these workshops to colleagues
Good Things Come Out Of Small Packages!

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Examples of Workshop Feedback
‘Vitally important for primary care’
Nurse Practitioner, East Surrey
‘This will change my practice’
Practice Nurse, Mid Devon & Exeter
‘All GP surgeries would benefit from this workshop’
Receptionist, North Tyneside
‘Re-iterated that we must think about and adapt our consultation skills as a
GP’
GP, East Surrey
‘I will take all I have learnt today and try to implement it when I see people
who have a learning disability’
Practice Nurse, Northamptonshire
‘Personally I was humbled, professionally I have a lot of work to do’
Practice Manager, East Surrey

12. Aligning priorities
• Commissioned
• Localities
• Demographics
• Models
• National providers v local commissioners
• Understanding how commissioners set their priorities
• Non-Commissioned
• Sustainability
• Many moving parts of
the NHS
• Different Trusts,
different models

13. Aligning priorities - discussionCCGs/Commissioners
• What approach do you take to priority setting and how might NNVIA
members assist you with this work?
NNVIA Members (Commissioned)
• What examples can you offer of where you have been involved in the
full commissioning cycle and what have you bought to the table that
CCG colleagues might benefit from?
Both
• What opportunities exist for improving joint working?
• Identify three key actions/ recommendations in this area.
Demonstrating the impact of volunteering | 20 March 2014
Aligning priorities - discussion

14. Demonstrating impact
What do we measure and how to we measure it?
• What happened to Paul?
Challenges
• What do we measure?
• Health outcomes – patients lives saved
• Whose outcome is it anyway?
• Did we fail if the person died?
Demonstrating the impact of volunteering | 20 March 2014

15. Demonstrating impact
Project is robustly evaluated in formative stage. At final stage, evaluation
data will be compared with baseline data. 5 groups evaluated below
are:
 Volunteers (Annual Review each year)
 GP surgery staff (Workshop feedback)
 GP Survey (Practice Manager Feedback)
 CCG Survey (LD Lead in CCG feedback)
 People with a learning disability survey (feedback from local service
users about the surgeries)
 Examples of ‘change’ due to project intervention
 Changing of hearts and minds
 Not just quantitative data, but qualitative data to show impact of project

16. Demonstrating impact - discussion
CCGs/Commissioners
• What evidence are you looking for and how is this best articulated?
NNVIA Members
• What are you able to regularly provide (Commissioned and non-
Commissioned)
Both
• Identify three key actions/ recommendations in this area for how to align
and use a common language to demonstrate the impact of volunteering
in improving health outcomes
Demonstrating the impact of volunteering | 20 March 2014

17. Workshop feedback
• What are the three insights and learning points
from this workshop?
• Identify important specific activities, tasks or events which
will take the learning through to next steps
Demonstrating the impact of volunteering | 20 March 2014

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Messages from our volunteers - A short video
For more information, please visit our website:
http://www.mencap.org.uk/getting-it-right-start