Be heard: Join the People’s Panel for Epsom and St Helier

Epsom and St Helier hospitals are asking patients and members of the public to join its first ever People’s Panel – an initiative that will ensure future projects and programmes are co-designed with patients and local people.

The Trust and its community partnerships, Sutton Health and Care and Surrey Downs Health and Care, are looking for people to represent the views of their local communities and to give feedback on a range of health and care issues. This could cover anything from your views on the directional signs and information shown around the hospitals to the latest developments in the Building Your Future Hospitals programme (that’s the programme to build a Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Sutton and significantly improve Epsom and St Helier hospitals).

Members of the People’s Panel will be able to get involved in a range of projects and programmes, from improving how the Trust communicates with patients, to having your say on building design and layout.

Chief Executive, Jacqueline Totterdell, said: "This is an exciting time for us as we plan to build a Specialist Emergency Care Hospital to look after our sickest patients and transform the existing buildings at Epsom and St Helier, and we need the involvement of our local people. The views of our local communities are crucially important to us, and we want to hear from you.

"By joining our People's Panel, you will have the opportunity to tell us what you want from your local hospitals and community services. In return we promise to listen to your feedback, tell you how it is being used to change or improve our plans and the services we provide, and continue to work with you on future projects.

"You can be involved in as much or as little as you like - members of our People's Panel will receive regular updates, be invited to attend panel meetings and more."

Trevor Fitzgerald, Programme Director for Building Your Future Hospitals and Director of Estates, Facilities and Capital Projects, added: “Building Your Future Hospitals represents the biggest investment in healthcare in our region for a generation, and we want you, our local communities, to be part of it. Join our People’s Panel – it takes less than five minutes – and help us to make the Specialist Emergency Care Hospital and Epsom and St Helier hospitals great now and for generations to come.”

Joining the People’s Panel couldn’t be simpler, just fill in the online form at www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/peoples-panel, or for more information or a hard copy membership form, email esth.peoplespanel@nhs.net.