Matt Evans, Active People and Place Manager at Active Lincolnshire, is currently on secondment at Lincolnshire Community Health Service NHS Trust working as MSK (Musculoskeletal) Personalisation Project Manager. In this blog Matt discusses his experiences of his first month.

So, with that, a month has passed and I am here at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust immersing myself in the MSK and Personalisation worlds. I don't know if it is my old French GCSE or my in-built FOMO but for some reason, I am motivated to learn this new language. Already, my glossary of acronyms has spilt on to a 5th page and people have witnessed me, via MS Teams, frantically flicking between documents to decipher what has just been said. Every day is a learning day!

I have really enjoyed finding out about Patient Activation Measures (PAMs) and noticing the similarities to some of the Sport England Youth Personalities work from back in 2014. Understanding who we are working with is basic marketing and I like to be able to think about people in cohorts or groups rather than adopting a “one size fits all” type approach. That isn't me pigeon holing people either, it is just a way of starting to think about the types of people that we are working with. We need somewhere to start!

I was delighted to be joined by colleagues across the system to map the MSK journey. Through this session we looked at the various opportunities that there are to place a personalised approach within the system. We scribbled on a role of paper and chartered 6 meters of thoughts and annotations. It was surprising how many touch points there were, and I look forward to collaborating as we work out where the optimum moments are to release pressure from practitioners.

I have also enjoyed a session with the co-production group facilitated by EveryOne. Thorough this forum, I came face to face with people that are affected by the decisions and the actions taken by colleagues. Whilst some of their stories had sad moments, there were also positives that supply hope for future improvements. We explored their journeys and got to further understand what would/could have helped enhance their experience in order to have better health outcomes. Just the seven flip charts to work through on this one!

Surrounding those sessions, I have enjoyed meeting system partners and hearing about their work. I have met a lot of people that have been very welcoming of me. The insight I have gathered will help me to be more efficient in this role moving forwards and I look forward to reconnecting with them in the coming months.

My old friends from the Physical Activity sector haven’t been far away either. We have crossed paths quickly allowing us to think about some of the opportunities that are possible within the community and voluntary sector. Active Lincolnshire and One You Lincolnshire both hold keys to unlocking local support for people that are self-managing their condition. We've already started joining the dots!

Finally, I have met two fantastic physios who are bursting with energy and keen to make a positive impact on the programme. We workshopped a basic theory of change and coupled it with some learning questions based upon the activities that had taken place throughout this first month. I think we will be a good team and I am sure you will hear from them over the coming months!