Department of Health Connecting Programme

The Department of Health (DH) Connecting Programme is part of the response to the Francis Inquiry observation that staff are not connected to the reality of the frontline NHS.

The programme will help them to address this perception and to proactively facilitate more opportunities for DH staff to gain first hand insight of the experiences of those using not just the NHS, but all parts of health and care services in a variety of settings- including the VCS.

The Programme is being run with DH leaders and key influencers in the first instance, with gradual roll out to senior policy makers and policy teams in 2014. As part of the remit to provide first hand insight of patient and public experience of the health and care system, they are keen to work with Strategic Partners to provide Connecting placements.

The partner benefits include:

• Building enduring relationships with policy officials and key influencers;
• Helping facilitate long term sustainable change that puts patients and the public at the heart of the DH culture;
• Building networks across the full range of DH functions;
• Potential fresh cohort of volunteers , advisers and critical friends;
• Opportunity to take part in a return programme, with the opportunity for partners to spend the day with a range of DH leaders and senior officials, gaining insight to the national policy process and DH’s role as system leader; and
• Opportunity for staff in providers to showcase the work that they do and to ask DH staff more about what work DH does.

The DH benefits include:

• Better informed, more skilled policy makers;
• Policy and programme development grounded in experiences of patients and the public in health and care;
• Building a wider range of connections across the system, increasing opportunities to discuss insight and ideas with a broad range of partners with frontline experience;
• Gaining new perspectives on the impact of policy and national programmes on patients, the public and the health and care workforce;
• Collective learning through  first-hand experiences, informing the values and behaviours in DH; and
• Improved understanding of the local and societal factors influencing delivery of health and care.

If you are interested in working with DH on this programme, email connecting@dh.gsi.gov.uk and cc Lorraine.thomas@dh.gsi.gov.uk.