Community engagement group (CEG) report - September 2025

Meeting: Trust Board – Public Meeting

Date: 10 September 2025

Report Title: Community Engagement Group (CEG) Report

Agenda Item: PUB25/09/6.7

Author: Rachel Morris, Head of Patient Experience

Lead Director: Simon Chase, Chief Paramedic and Director of Quality

Purpose: Discussion/Review

Assurance: Reasonable

Link to EEAST’s Strategic Mission:

Caring
Responsive
Effective
Well-led
Safe

Link to Strategic Risk:

SR2 Quality Governance

Equality Impact Assessment: No negative impact identified

Previously considered by: This is a standing Public Board paper. This paper has been produced by Rachel Morris, Head of Patient Experience based on input from and reviewed by CEG.

Purpose: To update the board on the work of the Community Engagement Group (CEG) and keep the board appraised of both the themes and trends emerging from their internal and public engagement work, while sharing the group’s views and opinions as patient and public representatives.

Executive Summary:

Activity Undertaken and Achievements

June 2025

The CEG engaged with over 250 members of the public and relevant service user organisations in June on behalf of the Trust. Activities included Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) demonstrations, gathering feedback, and delivering educational and health-promotion sessions at schools, local fairs, and coffee shop venues.

The CEG also supported the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) team at the Norfolk show where over 2000 members of the public were engaged. This focused on educating the public about call triage and dispatch. Additionally, the CEG provided short-notice assistance for a BBC News feature showcasing the Trust initiative to provide live video clinical support to bystanders during out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

Internally, CEG members contributed to shortlisting panels for the Stars of EEAST awards and the Non-Executive Director recruitment stakeholder panels. They also supported Volunteers Week, helping to recruit more volunteers and improve diversity within the CEG. Members acted as patient representatives at the Quality Governance Committee (QGC), the Research Involvement Group (RIG), and externally with NIHR at the regional level.

July 2025

The CEG engaged with 223 people, via an educational talk about the Trust services and service user groups, mainly via Healthwatch meetings. This helped to add patient voice to Integrated Care Board (ICB) restructuring plans in several sectors and understanding about the timeline for Hertfordshire Healthwatch to cease from functioning to fit with the Government new 10-year plan.

Internally, members supported station Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) audits and contributed to revising the Patient Safety & Engagement Group (PSEG) Terms of Reference. Newly recruited younger members began work on increasing youth engagement following their initial planning meeting (from the workplan agreement).

One CEG members is acting as a public representative of the Trust for the DAISY (Decarbonisation of Ambulance Service Infrastructure and Systems) research project and is currently supporting with funding bid development.

In summary, outcomes of the CEG work since the last board meeting include:

Recruitment of additional volunteers across the organisation
Increased public awareness of first aid and 999 call processes
Increased public awareness in Norfolk of call triage and alternate care pathways
Strengthened patient voice in committee meetings, recruitment, and Trust awards
Active involvement in research projects internally and externally through funded Patient Research Engagement networks.

Upcoming Work

The CEG have reviewed their current work plan and agreed on 3 priorities for the year ahead:

Youth (ages 16-30) engagement and recruitment - Gather feedback from this age group to understand dissatisfaction levels, improve engagement, and increase CEG membership within this age group.
Patient Representative walkabout audits - Support with developing and then undertaking patient representative walkabout audits to support identification of and improvement of issues in relation to CQC inspection findings, as agreed with Natalie Mudge.
Being a good bystander public education project - Improve engagement with the public on how they could be a good bystander, improving educational resources for engagement with all age groups across diverse communities to increase public awareness of how the ambulance service works, and how they can best support EEAST and patients during an incident.

Business-as-usual activities, such as public engagement, collaboration with allied health networks, and recruitment to increase diversity, will continue alongside these priorities.

It has also been highlighted that a feedback mechanism is necessary to ensure that actions agreed from these board reports are captured and the impact is shared with the board. An action log will be set up to be reviewed in the quarterly CEG meetings and will provide updates in future board reports on actions and outcomes (both positive and areas for improvement).

Areas for Consideration

Although the CEG has agreed its priorities for this year, members are also highly cognisant of the health inequalities agenda and would like to link in with Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) and better understand what role the CEG could have as one of their priorities for next year. The CEG are by their nature linked into their local communities and feel that they are therefore well placed to support this work. The Patient Experience team agree that once the health inequalities scoping work, currently being undertaken by Chris Macgregor is complete, EDI will be invited to a CEG meeting to discuss how the CEG can support them with this work. In the interim, efforts to recruit new members and increase diversity will strengthen the CEG’s capacity to support this work.

Notably, it has been raised that although there is good understanding and appreciation of support for the role of the CEG at board level, it is felt that this does not always filter down to most staff at station levels. This can cause some difficulties for CEG members attending station as part of their volunteering work for the Trust (especially those members who are not all CFR’s and do not wear uniform).

The CEG asks the Board to consider how information about its role and projects can be better communicated across the Trust. This will be particularly important with the development of the ‘patient representative walkabout audits’ where members are required to attend stations and provide direct feedback to staff. Simon Chase has proposed that the leadership days could provide such an opportunity to introduce the work of the CEG to the wider Trust leadership team, but further consideration is needed on how to cascade this information consistently across all operational and support services.

How does this report link with EEAST’s vision, purpose and values?

As critical friends and ambassadors of the Trust, the CEG continually strive to champion improvements. This report reflects their work in understanding and representing the public voice while supporting the Trust to continuously improve outcomes and experiences for patients.

Summary:

The Community Engagement Group has formally engaged with approximately 500 members of the public and service user organisations over the past two months, in addition to engaging with a further 2,000 members of the public at the Norfolk Show. The group has also contributed to and supported several of the Trust’s internal and larger community engagement events.

The CEG has agreed its priorities for this year and is already progressing work towards these objectives.

Considerations have been raised regarding the CEG’s potential role in supporting future Trust work on health inequalities and CQC-linked walkabout IPC audits. However, this will require additional support, including ensuring that all relevant staff are fully aware of the CEG’s volunteer roles and contributions.