NHS Lincolnshire Citizens’ Panel

What is a Citizen Panel?

A Citizens’ Panel is a sample of residents who have volunteered to take part in regular research and questionnaires.

In Lincolnshire, the Citizen Panel is an exciting development for the NHS that will help us gather feedback from a sample of our population and give local residents the opportunity to share their opinions and views on health and care services within the county.  The information we receive will help to ensure that services are designed and delivered to take into account what matters most to our residents.

In our first year, we are striving to have over 1,000 panel members.

Purpose

The Citizen Panel has been set up for people in Lincolnshire, to gather public views and opinions on a wide variety of health topics, allowing members of the public to get involved in shaping the future of local healthcare services.

Our panel aims to be representative of the population and is complementary to our existing engagement activities.  It will allow us to carry out targeted engagement with local residents to help understand the healthcare needs of people in more detail. This will help us to identify what health inequalities currently exist in our communities and design new ways of working to overcome these. Additionally, the panel can be used to quickly recruit participants for focus groups or in-depth interviews.

How is the panel recruited?

To help us with the recruitment,  HWLincs have been commissioned to deliver the recruitment for the Citizen Panel on behalf of the NHS.

HWLincs is a Lincolnshire-based organisation that specialises in engagement, and will invite people to join the panel using a range of methods including social media, posters and targeted campaigns.

How does the Citizen Panel work?

Details of the newly recruited panel members will be shared with NHS Lincolnshire, and panel members will receive a short ‘Welcome Survey’ asking them to complete a few questions about themselves.  This initial information will help the NHS and HWLincs to measure whether the panel is representative of Lincolnshire’s population.

The panel members will be expected to be involved in the panel for at least 12 months and take part in four to six surveys per year.  The majority of activity will be through online surveys and questionnaires that you can complete on your mobile or laptop at a time that suits you

For further information on NHS Lincolnshire Citizen Panel, visit the Lincolnshire CCG website.