Overview of the Forum 

The Joint Engagement Forum (JEF) brings together representatives of the providers of the local engagement contract. It is a forum attended by those with and those representing people with protected characteristic, lived experience of adult social care and adult social care services, carers, and voluntary sector partners to help shape adult social care and health services in Devon. 

The Forum plays an important role in ensuring that the voices of people and communities are meaningfully embedded within strategic decision-making, supporting a more person-centred and responsive system. 

Purpose of Forum 

1. A meeting to enable Devon County Council (DCC) and NHS Devon ICB officers to oversee health and social care engagement activity. 

2. A meeting to enable carers and people with lived experience of health and social care to share their experiences of involvement activities undertaken by DCC and NHS Devon ICB. 

3. A meeting where commissioners from DCC and NHS Devon ICB can discuss engagement, consultation and involvement on health and social care issues together along with people who use services.

4. A meeting in which the agenda is not solely directed by the Council but places significant value on ensuring members are sighted on, and able to contribute to, the development of plans and approaches within Integrated Adult Social Care through a range of established mechanisms 

5. A meeting that enables Forum members to guide and co-produce the agenda and discussion content, focusing on what matters most to them and aligning with wider strategic goals and initiatives.

6. A meeting which helps commissioners to judge the effectiveness of the performance of the provider which holds the Local Engagement contract (Lot 2 of the Healthwatch and Local Engagement Contract). 

7. A meeting which enables commissioners and the local engagement provider to share activities which may take place under the contract or may be directly managed by commissioners, to maximise the learning from the engagement.

8. A meeting which is attended by Healthwatch Devon as holders of the Lot 1 contract for consumer voice activities as well as the local engagement Lot 2 provider, so enabling links to be made between views collected by the consumer voice to be compared with or influence local engagement findings. 

9. A meeting at which commissioners and other managers can participate in a question-and-answer forum with carers and people with lived experience. 

10. A meeting which sends a representative to the Health and Wellbeing Board. 

11. A meeting which enables members of DCC’s Equality Reference Group to receive an overview of local health and social care engagement activities to help ensure equalities, as well as people with lived experience perspectives, have been considered.

Attendees 

Attendance at the Joint Engagement Forum (JEF) will vary from quarter to quarter depending on what engagement activity has been undertaken. Not all members of the Forum are required to attend the whole event; attendance can vary from agenda item to agenda item. Membership is reviewed on a regular basis, with JEF members identifying and agreeing potential attendees. Permanent membership is granted with the agreement of the Forum and subject to appropriate preparation for participation. From time to time, individuals may also attend in an observational capacity, subject to agreement by members. 

Membership 

• Devon County Council officers 

• NHS Devon ICB officers 

• Devon & Torbay NHS officers 

• Representatives from the provider of the local engagement contract (Lot 2 of the Healthwatch Devon and Local Engagement Contract) 

• Representatives from Healthwatch Devon, the statutory consumer voice (holders of Lot 1 of the Healthwatch devon and Local Engagement contract): one paid officer and one lay representative 

• Members of the DCC Equality Reference Group who represent people with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010 

• A person with lived experience and a carer who has participated in each of the activities reported to the Forum. 

• An officer from a local engagement provider if required to support any of the people 

with lived experience or carers, e.g. an officer from Mind can attend to support a person with mental health issues. 

• DCC and NHS managers who can participate in a question-and-answer session with carers and people with lived experience. 

• The DCC officer which supports the Health and Wellbeing Board 

• DCC note-taker. 

• Sign language interpreter, when required. 

Roles 

1. Involvement and participation officers from DCC and NHS Devon ICB will ensure the JEF always receives an update on the last quarter’s engagement and that planned for the next quarter, produced in collaboration with the local engagement contract holder. 

2. Carer and people with lived experience representatives attend so the commissioners of the engagement activities can hear firsthand about engagement activities and where possible they should give the activity feedback.

3. Representatives of the provider which holds the local engagement contract are required to supply information on the local engagement undertaken during the last quarter and which is planned in the next quarter. 

4. Paid officers from the organisation or partnership of organisations which holds the local engagement contract are required to support people who use their services who have difficulty participating in the meeting. 

5. The Healthwatch Devon representatives are required to provide information which can complement the findings of local engagement activities. 

6. The Forum’s representative on the Health and Wellbeing Board is required to report on the previous quarter’s Board and participate in a session to plan their input to the forthcoming Board. 

7. The DCC officer who supports the Health and Wellbeing Board is required to help facilitate a session which enables JEF members to give views which the Board representative can input to Board discussions. 

8. The paid officer from Healthwatch is expected to support the lay member and ensure they can give relevant updates, and to capture any action for Healthwatch agreed at the JEF. 

Frequency of meetings etc. 

Frequency: Quarterly 

Time of year: The JEF will take place in the fortnight before the Health and Wellbeing Board 

Timing: Meetings will be no longer than 3 hours with a comfort break 

Venue: Currently running meetings virtually using Microsoft Teams 

Chair: Involvement Manager, Social Care Commissioning 

Inputs to the Forum 

The Forum will generally include the following agenda items, with the agenda and strategic direction jointly shaped by Forum members and informed by the prevailing priorities of DCC and the NHS at any given time. 

• Minutes and actions from the previous Forum 

• Engagement activity round-up 

• Health and social care managers question and answer session, or equivalent interactive session (e.g. getting lived experience and carer views on annual performance reports) 

• Feedback from the previous Health and Wellbeing Board 

• Preparation for the next Health and Wellbeing Board 

• Consideration of ways of further developing the Forum itself 

Outputs from the Board 

• Minutes and/or Action Log 

• Overview of health and social care engagement activity published on the DCC website and the local engagement provider’s website. 

• Representation of carer and people with lived experience views on the Health & Wellbeing Board 

• Feedback from the Health and Wellbeing Board 

• Referral and escalation of issues raised by service users to the relevant parts of DCC and NHS Devon ICB 

• The ability for people who use health and social care services to directly question commissioners and managers of relevant services. 

Standards for administration 

• Agendas will be sent to members at least 1 week before JEF meetings. 

• Minutes of JEF meetings will be sent to members within 3 weeks of the meeting. 

• Minutes of JEF meetings will be published on the relevant public internet pages within 3 weeks of the meeting. 

• Accessibility – should a meeting be face-to-face the venue and facilities will be arranged to meet the communication and access needs of JEF members if those needs are communicated to the meeting administrator in time. 

Code of Conduct 

The purpose of JEF activity is to maximise opportunities for carers and people with lived experience to have a say in health and social care commissioning activities, by enabling them to comment on engagement processes.

To this end, there is an expectation that all parties will: 

• Join us from a safe, quiet and private place (where Forums are still held online) due to the sensitive and confidential nature of what is being discussed. 

• Engage in discussion in a respectful and constructive manner. 

• Respect the rights of others to participate in the JEF. 

• Bring a positive attitude and ‘can do’ approach to the work of the JEF.

• Engage in an open and transparent manner and highlight any relevant conflicts of interest as they may arise. 

• Understand that, whilst frustration and disagreement will occur, behaviour from any party which is deemed unacceptable, threatening or abusive will not be tolerated. 

• Bring any complaints, concerns arising from JEF meetings or disputes to be settled, to the attention of the chair of the JEF in writing.

Appendix:   

Policy Principles for Devon County Council Integrated Adult Social Care & Health Involvement, Engagement and Consultation Groups   

   

To help deliver effective involvement engagement and consultation with people who have care and support needs and their carers, Devon County Council either arranges, or commissions others to arrange, discussion groups of people from Devon who can share their lived experience to inform discussions on DCC Integrated Adult Social Care and health policy, planning, services and related issues.

   

Devon County Council is committed to creating an environment at all forums and meetings where everyone is treated fairly and with dignity and respect. The principles of DCC’s Unacceptable Behaviour Policy will apply to all members of Integrated Adult Social Care and Health Involvement, Engagement and Consultation Groups both in how they behave to other members of the group and how other members of the group behave towards them. These principles will also apply to DCC staff involved in these groups and members of any organisations commissioned by DCC to help arrange or contribute to these groups.

   

The Unacceptable Behaviour Policy in full can be found at:   

https://inside.devon.gov.uk/task/unacceptable-customer-behaviour

   

Members of these groups will be expected to behave in the following ways.

• Discuss things in a respectful and constructive way.

• Respect other members of the meeting and their role in taking part in and contributing to the meeting. 

• Have a positive attitude and, as far as possible, a “can do” approach.

• Make the meeting, or a DCC staff member involved in the meeting, aware of any possible conflict of interests. 

   

Any concerns from attendees about the behaviour of other attendees can be raised in the meeting 

itself, or with the meeting chair outside the meeting, or with DCC staff involved in arranging the meeting. This can be done in writing if necessary. 

Reasonable Adjustments to Enable Participation in Integrated Adult Social Care and Health Involvement, Engagement and Consultation Groups   

   

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on organisations to make “reasonable adjustments” to any provision, criterion or practice that they apply and to physical features of their premises, to accommodate the needs of disabled people.

In deciding what adjustments are “reasonable,” DCC staff will consider:   

• Their duties under the Equality Act 2010 

• The extent to which someone would be at a substantial disadvantage in taking part in the group compared with other people because of their disability or other circumstances. 

• The effectiveness of the adjustment 

• The proportionate benefit of the adjustment in enabling someone to contribute to the purpose of the group. 

• How difficult it would be to make the adjustment.