Healthier Together play Partnerology

On 6 September, some of the Healthier Together team met up with intrepid colleagues from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Clinical Commissioning Group, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Sirona Care and Health and Bristol Community Health for a spot of Partnerology. After brief introductions, participants sorted themselves into teams, then set off with giant dice and playing pieces in a head-to-head discussion challenge.

The game’s squares had been named for Healthier Together’s stakeholders and potential collaborators, and the opportunity cards posed questions allied to health priorities across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Players had been asked to ‘pick teams’ from amongst people that they didn’t already know. This meant that they were able to consider issues from differing perspectives and gain insights into each other’s challenges, barriers, enablers and approaches, sharing ideas, pitfalls and successful practice. Universally they said afterwards that they valued the discussions with colleagues outside their normal working spheres, but that they ‘needed more time’ to develop discussions further.

Jan is now working with Gemma Self and Becky Balloch to plan a series of Partnerology sessions, to reach as many staff as possible from Healthier Together’s partners and wider BNSSG health system.