The BSW People and Communities Engagement Team is always looking for opportunities to hear your views on local health and care services. We’re always out and about in our local area meeting patient and community groups, individuals or anyone who fancies a chat to find out more about what matters to them. On this page you’ll find some details of what we’ve been up to over the past few months and where and who we’ll be talking to in the near future. If you see us out and about, come and say hello!

 

Talking to our communities about Neighbourhood Health

BSW ICB is working towards a vision for providing more care closer to our communities through an ambitious plan for Neighbourhood Health.

In our vision, Neighbourhood Health is how health, care and wider support work together around people and communities, close to where they live.

It recognises that health and wellbeing are shaped by everyday life, including housing, work, transport, environment and social connection, as well as health and care services.

It brings health, social care, public health, community organisations and many more partners together in neighbourhoods.

Support is organised in connected layers, so people can move easily around different types of help as their needs change. Importantly, we will also work together to create the conditions for healthy, happy lives.

Neighbourhood Health is how we make this real, day to day, in places and communities.

Neighbourhood Health focuses on:

  • working closer to where people tell us would be of greatest help
  • joining up services around neighbourhood populations
  • supporting people earlier, better and more consistently
  • using shared foundations to work as one system, not separate parts
  • This is about changing how we work together, not adding new layers or complexity.

As we work towards our vision, we need to know what our communities think about our plans and capture ideas, suggestions and  feedback to inform decisions about neighbourhood health.

We’ll be out and about listening to the views of lots of different communities across BSW, but will start by focusing on Gypsy, Romany, Traveller and Boater communities and veterans. These communities are often mobile, experience health inequalities and often have difficulties accessing services.

Keep checking back for information about how you can find out more about our plans for neighbourhood health and share your own views

 

Local PPG Groups help to develop patient facing leaflet

 

In December 2025, the BSW ICB People and Communities Engagement Team collected patient feedback on two leaflets regarding the use of Advice and Guidance in GP surgeries:

The team were looking to make sure the content of the leaflets was clear and easy to understand for patients before publication.

Thanks to the great PPGs at Westbury White Horse Health Centre, Somer Valley PCN in Midsomer Norton and Elden Surgery in Swindon who took time to read the leaflets and pass on their thoughts, we were able to identify some improvements.

Read the engagement report: Advice and Guidance feedback report

 To find out more about joining your local Patient Participation Group email: bswicb.engagement@nhs.net