Making a difference to health and care

Making a difference to health and care

Across our website you'll find examples of how health and care services are engaging with people and communities.

We want to share stories about the concrete changes and improvements which have come about as a result of people and services working together.

COVID Realities diary project

COVID Realities was a research project looking into the experiences of parents and carers on low incomes during the pandemic. Participants submitted regular diaries to describe their daily lives.

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Neurodevelopmental Differences

Using a range of engagement methods to explore how the health and wellbeing of children and young people with neurodevelopmental differences in Shetland could be improved

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Invisible Truths participatory arts project

Maternal Mental Health Scotland's Experts by Experience group used creative methods to give an artistic response to experiences of perinatal mental health services in Scotland.

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Lockdown Lowdown

The Scottish Youth Parliament, Young Scot and YouthLink Scotland partnered to deliver Lockdown Lowdown – a project to hear the concerns of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Using Ketso Connect

When usual activities were not possible, with lockdown restrictions, Ketso Connect was used to enable adults on the autistic spectrum to meet, socially distanced and in an outdoor space.

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Online community engagement in Glasgow

During the pandemic, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde carried out a range of remote and online engagement with local communities to find out people's experiences of accessing services in new ways.

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Scotland in Lockdown

Researchers at the University of Glasgow interviewed people from isolated and marginalised communities to understand the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.

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COVID in Colour

Over 60 young Black people and People of Colour completed an online survey to provide their experiences of living in the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Devon Virtual Voices Panel

An online citizens' panel has been an effective way to gather a representative view from the population of Devon, helping to shape appropriate health messaging.

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NHS Lothian Youth Panel

The NHS Lothian Youth Panel meets quarterly on Zoom so that the views and experiences of young people aged 11 to 26 can influence the design of new services.

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NHS Western Isles Patient Panel

A virtual Patient Panel brings people from island communities together to discuss health and care issues. Holding meetings online means more people can get involved more regularly.

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Following Young Fathers Further

Researchers at the University of Lincoln studying the experiences of young fathers found that telephone interviews are preferred over online interviews when face-to-face isn't possible.

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Bristol Young Person's Advisory Group

The Bristol Young Person's Advisory Group started to hold its meetings online so that young people can continue to influence how research is carried out.

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Medical practice Facebook group

When its Patient Participation Group could no longer meet due to the pandemic, Benbecula Medical Practice used its Facebook page to engage patients in discussions about services.

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Parkhead hub consultation

A dedicated website, feedback forms and live web chats allowed local people to find out more about a proposed health and social care hub, and to give their views.

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Gathering the experiences of people living with sight loss during COVID

RNIB carried out a 6-week study of how people living with sight loss were affected by COVID. Surveys, interviews and focus groups helped gain a rich understanding of the challenges people faced.

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Involving pregnant women and new parents through Facebook

Setting up a Facebook group has been an effective way to involve pregnant women and new parents, and to get their views on policies and services.

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COVID pregnancy

Researchers at King's College London surveyed over 1,700 women to find out about people's experiences of pregnancy and birth during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Quality Improvement Partner Panels

Quality Improvement Partner Panels support the work of health and social care organisations and innovators by involving the public in improvement projects and the development of innovation.

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Involving young people during the pandemic

NHS Tayside overcame COVID-19 restrictions to involve children and young people in choosing designs for decorative ceiling panels and the new artwork for a new Children's Theatre Suite.

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Gathering public and professional views on Near Me

A Scotland-wide exercise gathered views from the public and professionals to support the national roll-out of the Near Me video consulting service

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Virtual meetings for public partners

Healthcare Improvement Scotland holds virtual meetings to keep in touch with its public partners during lockdown.

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Trialling rapid online deliberation to inform public policy

A partnership of 4 organisations trialled a new model of rapid, online deliberation that would enable citizens to feed in to the development of policy for moving out of lockdown.

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Surveying GP practice patients

Online and paper-based surveys were used to gather feedback from over 1,600 patients registered with a practice in Arbroath to help inform the future model of care.

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Involving public partners using Zoom

Healthcare Improvement Scotland public partners give feedback on their experiences of using Zoom to participate in meetings

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Gathering feedback from volunteers at a distance

The Head, Heart, Bag and Bin method was adapted in order to gather feedback at a distance from NHS volunteers on their experiences during COVID-19

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Online focus groups using web chat

Real-time web chats were used to gather views and experiences from consumers in a series of online focus groups in Germany.

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Online conversation cafes

The Scottish Recovery Network adapted its existing face-to-face conversation café approach to create and deliver online conversation cafés.

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Gathering experiences of people affected by deafness

Gathering people's experiences via survey and online meeting helped deafscotland to advise policy makers on how to make national responses more inclusive for people affected by deafness.

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NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde GP Out of Hours engagement

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Patient Experience and Public Involvement (PEPI) Team used social media alongside traditional methods to gather views on the GP Out of Hours service.

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Easy Read for Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries & Galloway IJB worked with the Powerful Voices Together group to develop their Strategic Commissioning Plan. It was EASY with the group's lived experience and expert knowledge to hand!

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NHS Highland pop-up consultation

As part of a 12-week consultation for the redesign of adult health and care services in Caithness, NHS Highland held pop-up sessions for the public in libraries, village halls and vacant shops.

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East Renfrewshire Pupil Voices

We worked with secondary school pupils in East Renfrewshire to find out what matters to them and how they would like to get involved with their local health and social care services.

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Experience Based Co-Design of NHS Lothian cancer centre

NHS Lothian used Experience Based Co-Design to inform the development of a case for change and core design principles for its new cancer treatment centre.

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Using the Kawa River Model to engage patients

The State Hospital used the Kawa River Model approach to make a discussion with patients about service redesign more engaging

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NHS Tayside use of Mentimeter

NHS Tayside used electronic voting system Mentimeter to gather realtime feedback from participants at public engagement events.

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