New Community Advisory Board

A new Community Advisory Board (CAB) has been established at the heart of the Bromley by Bow Health Partnership governance. The board will influence the development of health services, help people connect with support for their health and wellbeing and amplify the residents’ voices within the partnership’s GP practices.

The enthusiastic team of eight male and female volunteers covers a broad age range from a teenage team member through to someone in their seventies and represents a mix of ethnic backgrounds. They bring strong resolve and energy to their roles and draw on a wide range of skills and life experience.

The CAB team have spent time getting to know one another and building relationships with the staff senior management and GP partners at the health partnership. Two of the group have been appointed as patient directors, participating in health practice delivery board meetings and representing the community at the core of health decision-making.

What are the priorities?

Through their initial findings in their communities, the team have identified three key priorities:

1. They reported on people’s worsening mental health through the effects of the Covid pandemic and the need to enhance services and support, improve access and build personal connections to improve recovery.

2. They identified that enhanced communication and outreach is needed to help patients understand the broad range of services and activities available to support their wider health, not just at their GP practice but at the Centre and in the wider community.

3. A recognition that many patients need extra help to engage with support whether through low confidence and mood, language barriers, digital exclusion and other factors.

A programme of activities, fun sessions and outreach is planned to continue to build the impact and reach of the Community Advisory Board.

Their grass-roots research and learning is fed into continuous improvement processes, putting people and communities central to the Bromley by Bow Health Partnership governance and future development.

Find out more about the role.