We view lived experience and community insight as a core part of our work to improve health services for local people.
Alongside data about performance and outcomes, what we hear from local people gives us early warning of problems. This can include issues like poor or unequal access, avoidable harm, low‑value activity, or growing health inequalities. Community insight often highlights these issues before they show up in formal data.
Using insight to support improvement
We use patient and community insight throughout our Plan–Do–Study–Act (PDSA) improvement cycles. It helps us:
- define problems clearly
- test changes quickly
- understand whether improvements are working in practice
Instead of asking for new feedback again and again, we will make better use of the insight already collected across our system to help us make more timely improvement decisions. We will also use modern digital tools, including the NHS App wherever possible, to make engagement easier and more inclusive.
Listening with purpose
We are committed to listening in a way that is purposeful, proportionate, and linked to where we are in the improvement cycle.
- Broad engagement helps us spot patterns, themes, and early risks that shape our priorities.
- Deeper involvement from people with lived experience happens when we are designing changes, testing ideas, or checking reliability. This means insight shapes decisions early, not after the fact.
Working together on priority areas
We will co-produce our improvement work in our priority pathways and with our population groups. We will involve people with lived experience, working alongside commissioning and quality teams, to:
- design measures
- test changes
- interpret results
We will offer people the right support and payment for their time and expertise. In this way we can ensure improvements reflect what matters to people, not just what is easiest to measure.
Tackling health inequalities
Health inequalities guide where we focus our improvement work and our listening. We will prioritise insight from communities who face the poorest access, experience, and outcomes. Their feedback will help shape targeted PDSA improvement cycles and show whether changes are reducing, not widening, unfair differences.
Closing the feedback loop
We will build insight into our assurance and learning processes. What we hear from people will directly inform:
- risk discussions
- reliability testing
- decisions about whether services or processes need redesign
Read our People and Communities Engagement Strategy
Our People and Communities Engagement Strategy sets out how we will listen to, learn from and involve people, communities and partner organisations in our work to improve local health services.
Read the Central East ICB People and Communities Engagement Strategy