Current involvement opportunities

Women’s Health Champions Reference Groups recruiting now in Sandwell and Wolverhampton

Are you passionate about improving women’s health? Would you like to be a part of a movement, changing women’s health services locally for the better?

In 2022, the Department of Health and Social Care published a Women’s Health Strategy for England that sets out a 10-year ambition for boosting the health and wellbeing of women and girls and improving how the health and care system listens to women.   

Women's Health services in Sandwell and Wolverhampton need help from the local communities, who know our local needs best. We are recruiting two women’s health champions reference groups of trusted voices and people with lived experience to steer the women’s health projects in Sandwell and Wolverhampton. 

Our strength is amplified with collective voices, and together we can make a difference to women's health services locally. This group will be a driver in addressing challenges people using women’s health services face when accessing care for health needs.  

Who might be interested

This opportunity is for people who want to see local women’s health services better meet the needs of our local communities. We hope to hear from people who are linked to underserved communities or those who are seldom heard. 

Inclusivity 

This project's scope includes those who identify as women but may not have been born female and those who were born female but may no longer identify as a woman.  

Purpose  

The group’s purpose will be to keep us on track with the project, codesigning training for women’s health champions based on what is important locally, shaping what other topics are most important, reviewing a pilot and to support with longevity of changes in women’s health services. 

Commitment  

The group is voluntary; therefore, you can contribute as much or as little as you prefer, and the group will make decisions on how to proceed as a collective. The time commitment will be one online meeting per month with email correspondence in between. The monthly meeting will be approximately 2 hours, and we plan to start the advisory group in late February.   

Sign up  

If you're interested in joining the champions reference group, representing your community and making a lasting impact, please sign up to join the advisory group by 7 March 2025.  

Sign up here for SANDWELL

Sign up here for WOLVERHAMPTON

Other women’s health opportunities 

A funded coproduction opportunity for community, voluntary and faith groups and organisations in Sandwell and Wolverhampton to work on creating a deeper understanding and codesigning solutions for women’s health goes live on 7 February 2025. 

For more information on opportunities to get involved in women’s health initiatives in Dudley and Walsall contact the involvement team. 

If you would prefer to speak over the phone or would like this information in a different format, please contact Black Country Involve on involve.blackcountry@nhs.net. 

Thank you for your interest.

As technology is being used more frequently within health and social care settings, the Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS) has launched a survey to explore how GP services are being accessed digitally and connect with people who may not have access to a digital device.

We would like to hear from as many people as possible about their experiences and any barriers faced, in accessing digital resources for their health and care needs. This will build on the insights we have gathered from local people over the last couple of years and once collated, will shape what more we can be doing to support people to access digital tools, help and advice.

You are invited to complete our survey, and we encourage you to share this opportunity with any relatives, friends, neighbours or groups who may not be online/ don’t have a digital device and may need support to complete the survey. This could be in one of the following ways:

• By completing the online survey, with the help of someone who has a device or can complete it on their behalf if needed at: https://forms.office.com/e/dN7Nr2uDSF
• By completing the survey over the phone – Please contact the Involvement team on 0121 612 1447, who will arrange a call-back with the Digital Inequalities team.
• By requesting paper copies of the survey to share with any groups you may belong to, whom this survey might apply - please send requests directly to emma.sharman@nhs.net

Improving women’s health services in Sandwell and Wolverhampton. Co-design funding available – apply now!

We want to hear from women living in Sandwell and Wolverhampton about how they think women’s health services can be improved. We are inviting local groups and organisations across Sandwell and Wolverhampton to collaborate with us on a project to improve health services for women, with a focus on menopause, heavy menstrual bleeding and what matters most to them. 

In 2022, the Department of Health and Social Care published a Women’s Health Strategy for England that sets out a 10-year ambition for boosting the health and wellbeing of women and girls and improving how the health and care system listens to women.  Locally, NHS England have given us funding to plan and improve pathways, and information and education in relation to women’s health.  

To do this successfully, we know we need to work with local trusted voices to understand the barriers to accessing women’s health services and then working together to co-design solutions to these barriers. 

The project has 2 stages:  

Stage 1: We would ask you to host conversations over a period of 4 weeks with local women that identify and understands any barriers, stigmas or concerns around Women’s Health services.   

You can do this in a way that works for you and the women you work with. There will be 2 initial meetings to attend in this stage; the first at the very start to give you information on the project and the types of questions you might ask. The second being at the end of the conversation period to come together and talk about all the rich insight you’ve gathered. We would also like to use this stage to introduce the team informally. 

 Stage 2: Once we understand the barriers, we would invite you to 3 workshops to take what you’ve heard, and co-design interventions or activities that will facilitate change. The women from the conversations are welcome to join in this process, but numbers will be limited.  

 We have a funding totalling £20,000 for bids to support with the costs and time commitments of speaking to local women and attendance at the workshops. We have a separate pot of funding for us to implement the interventions and activities that are designed in stage 2.  

Timelines and Commitments:  

 Stage 1 conversations    

• Kick off conversation 28th March

• Round up conversation 2nd May 

 The stage 2 co-design workshops will take place across the afternoons of 3 dates, and we would expect you to attend them all:  

• 9th May

• 16th May

• 23rd May

If you would like to apply, please download the application here, and send your expression of interest form to involve.blackcountry@nhs.net by 7 March 2025. We will be in touch with successful applications by 14th March 2025. 

Women’s health champion reference groups trusted voices and people with lived experience are being set up in Sandwell and Wolverhampton to steer the women’s health projects. For more information and to sign up as a champion, click here or contact the involvement team. 

Please feel free to share this invitation with other groups or organisations, partnership bids are also welcome. We look forward to receiving your expression of interest!   

If you require this information in another language, contact involve.blackcountry@nhs.net.