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Bringing people together at Christmas: the Patient Health Forum

18th December 2019

Last week the Patient Health Forum held their Christmas party, with singing, dancing… and a special visit from a certain Mr Claus!

The Gateway team was on hand to help, as ever, booking transport and making endless cups of tea, but for the party we made sure to include some special extras for this month’s event, including a Christmas quiz and some luxury Christmas cakes and treats. Forum favourite Reza entertained everyone with a selection of Christmas songs and dances that everyone could join in with, and even Father Christmas popped in with some presents.

The monthly meetings for the Patient Health Forum (also known as the Long Term Conditions Group) are a much-loved social event for many of the forum members, but we know that the Christmas party is especially important. Some people told us on Thursday that this would be the only social event they’d be going to over the festive season, and a couple of people told us they will be spending Christmas day on their own.

Experiences and expertise

As well as being a social group, the forum is actually an important part of the local NHS’s patient participation strategy. The group, which meets in Stirchley, is funded by NHS Birmingham and Solihull CCG, which uses the group to directly capture views and opinions from people with long term health conditions. This feedback is then used to improve local services, as the CCG explains on its website:

“By talking directly to patients with long-term conditions, we are able to ask them to help us with the design, improvement and review of health services, enabling them to draw upon their own experiences and expertise.” –NHS Birmingham and Solihull CCG

If you’d like to get involved with the long term conditions group, or you know someone in South Birmingham who might benefit from coming along, call the team on 0121 456 7820 and ask to speak to someone about the Patient Health Forum.

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