Trust Board Febuary 2010 - Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals

SWBTB (2/10) 035 (a)
2. Methodology and Reach
2.1 Data Gathering
Data and information feeding into this document have come from a range of sources and these
are outlined below.
In Sandwell, the Merida team arranged 15 focus groups, primarily through Children’s Centres
and voluntary and community organisations. In the Heart of Birmingham (HOB) area, 6 focus
groups were arranged through HOBtPCT’s Patient and Public Involvement team. All 21 focus
groups were facilitated by Merida who kept written records of each group. Everyone who
attended a focus group was encouraged (and supported) to complete a maternity services
medium term review questionnaire.
Merida was also in attendance at 7 public meetings (4 in Sandwell and 3 in HOB) and was
responsible for taking notes at each of these meetings. Again, everyone who attended a public
meeting was encouraged (and supported) to complete the questionnaire in the consultation
document.
A complete list of focus groups and public meetings can be found at appendix 1.
In addition to the quantitative and qualitative information gathered through focus groups and
public meetings, people could complete the questionnaire in the consultation document and
send this directly to Merida for analysis, using a freepost address.
The consultation document also contained links to the websites of Sandwell PCT, Heart of
Birmingham teaching PCT and Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust (SWBHT)
where the home pages of these sites directed people to an electronic version of the
consultation document and the opportunity to complete the consultation questionnaire online.
Sandwell and HOBtPCT Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) teams also visited a number of
maternity service sessions, such as antenatal clinics, to complete the questionnaire with people
accessing services.
Sandwell PPI staff provided questions and comments sheets from presentations given to 125
people from the community though Sandwell Link, the Patient Experience Forum and voluntary
and community organisations through a meeting at Sandwell Council of Voluntary
Organisations.
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