Citizens’ Panel FAQs

Join us as a Citizens’ Panel Member

Have your say on healthcare in Lincolnshire.

Healthcare needs in Lincolnshire are changing. People are living longer, new medicines and technologies are being discovered and more of us are living with long-term conditions, such as diabetes and asthma.  To meet these challenges, local councils, care homes and different parts of the NHS – hospitals, family doctors, mental health teams and others – are working together more closely than ever before.

The NHS in Lincolnshire has developed the Citizens’ Panel to ensure that we can listen to and learn from our residents. By sharing your feedback and opinions on local healthcare services, you can help us to design services that take into account ‘what matters to people’, on a range of topics related to healthcare services.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is involved if I join the Citizens’ Panel?
    Citizens’ Panel members will be contacted throughout the year to provide their input and views on healthcare services in Lincolnshire. You’ll be invited to take part in a range of surveys, which you can fill in online via your mobile or laptop or through the post. If you want to be more involved you can also choose to attend focus groups, working groups or committees to talk about healthcare in more detail. If you feel you do not have an opinion on a topic or you’re too busy to help, you don’t have to. It is designed to fit around you.

    Every aspect of the panel is entirely voluntary; we only ask that you interact with the panel at least once in every three month period, i.e. by filling in a questionnaire, or attending a focus group.
  • What’s in it for me?
    • You will be helping to ensure we provide better quality care in a way that matters the most to Lincolnshire residents
    • You will have the opportunity to have your views heard by local healthcare decision makers
    • You will find out about new plans and ideas for Lincolnshire healthcare.
  • Will my responses to surveys and other activities be kept confidential?
    Yes, all personal information is kept confidential. For details on our Privacy Notice page.
  • How do you choose which people can join the panel?
    We will actively recruit people to join the Citizens’ Panel that are representative of local communities. This will include people of different ages, backgrounds, and from across different parts of Lincolnshire.
  • Can anyone join the panel?
    Panel members will be recruited and broadly representative of Lincolnshire’s population by gender, age, employment status, housing tenure, ethnic origin and geographic location. It is our aim to recruit panel members who have not engaged with the NHS previously and are not involved currently.

    To join the NHS Lincolnshire Citizens’ Panel all you need to do is complete this short registration form.

  • What will panel members do?
    In the first 12 months, members will be sent questionnaires to complete across the year. We anticipate that approximately eight to ten surveys will be sent out in the first year and we hope that panel members chose to take part in most of the surveys however we would hope that each member interacts with the panel at least once in every three month period. The questionnaires can be electronic or on paper, or completed over the phone – panel members will be asked their preferences when they join the panel.
  • What do you do with survey responses?
    Panel members will get feedback about any surveys or other engagement activities that they take part in, and also about what impact or influence their participation has had. After each survey we will produce a report detailing the results.
  • Will I receive feedback if I take part?
    It will not be possible to reply to every comment individually because it is likely we will receive many responses. But you will be contacted regularly to let you know the results of different surveys and activities.