Alasdair de Costa, Engage Britain’s Head of Research & Participation, explains how the project came about.
Between January and May 2021, Engage Britain invited people in communities across the country to hold online Community Conversations about health and care.
The hosts brought together their friends, colleagues or networks to share experiences of what’s working well and what could be better.
We partnered with community development specialists Just Ideas and WSA Community Consultants to find, train and support the hosts.
101 Community Conversations took place across England, Scotland and Wales, with 715 people taking part.
We heard from diverse members of the community including people with disabilities, long-term health conditions, those who draw on social care support and people who work in health or care.
Working out key themes from people’s experiences
All conversations were held online and recorded. Conversation hosts were later brought back for sense-making sessions to reflect on their group’s discussion.
Together, the hosts talked about the similarities and differences between their groups. And they collaborated on identifying the key points that emerged across seven key themes.
Check out people’s health and care experiences >
Sense-checking what matters with a larger group
Engage Britain then took a broad selection of the views and experiences from the Community Conversations and shared these statements in a survey to 4,010 members of the public.
This survey group were selected to be representative of the country at large. That way, the results would help show how unique or commonly held the Community Conversation views were across the country.
Check out the survey findings >
Bringing in expertise from other organisations
Many of the views and experiences shared in Community Conversations chimed with the excellent work that’s already been done by lots of different organisations working in health and care.
So we brought their insights into the project too, to add further context to what participants have said.
And it doesn’t end there
Engage Britain’s conversation on health and care in Britain has only just begun.
On each page of Health and Care Matters are people sharing their views. But you’ll find opportunities to make your voice heard too. Don’t miss the chance to have your say.
If you have any questions or thoughts you’d like to share, please get in touch at alasdair.decosta@engagebritain.org
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