Reconnect Insight Bank
20 organisations were funded via the Community Engagement Fund to support local conversations about the future of health and care services. All of these organisations are taking part in our ‘Reconnect, Reset, Rebuild’ listening exercise to enhance the voices of local communities. Between them they have reached over 1000 people.
All reports and insights gathered from the community engagement will be published below.
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Citizens Advice Rushmoor, engaged with over 40 local residents with significant health inequalities, clients with severe mental health and members of the local Nepali community. Insights report: |
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The Sanatan Parivar, engaged with over 30 members of the local Hindu community in RBWM plus a focussed discussion to capture insights from young carers within the community. Insight report: |
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Healthwatch Bracknell Forest spoke to residents of a local care home about their experiences of receiving care and their thoughts about the future of health and care services. Insight report: |
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Healthwatch Slough visited Cippenham Carers Group. Cippenham Carers Group offers carers the opportunity to meet for mutual support over lunch or a hot drink. They conducted informal interviews and provided signposting and information. Insights report: Healthwatch Slough Cippenham Carers community engagement report |
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Thames Valley Positive Support, are an East Berkshire Charity supporting people living with HIV and people from the LGBTQIA+ community. Their work involved carrying out four focus groups to capture feedback and insights from their community. Insight report: |
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Together As One (Aik Saath), based in Slough, delivered a young person’s health summit designed to amplify the voices of over 30 young individuals from diverse backgrounds. Insight report: |
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Art Beyond Belief spoke to people who take part in their ‘reconnect’ group for those who have used mental health services. They captured insight using case studies and creative artwork. Insight report: |
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Family Action Young Carers (Maidenhead and Windsor) held a community engagement event to talk to parents and young carers about their health, care and wellbeing. Insight report: |
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Autism Berkshire held focus groups in Bracknell, Maidenhead and Slough to speak to autistic adults to gain a greater understanding of how they use local health services, their experiences and challenges they face. |
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Luminus, the home of Healthwatch Surrey, held a focus groups St Martins community breakfast group in Old Dean - a key neighbourhood in Camberley which has a diverse community, many of which are at risk of health inequalities. Insight report: |
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The Wraysbury Hub in Windsor hosted a number of community health events in January and February. They spoke to children and young people, older residents having trouble in access to care, those that require household support funds, and with the growing ethnically diverse population in their village. |
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The Bracknell Macular Society Support group worked with Healthwatch to hold conversations with their members with a focus on accessible information and the challenges of managing multiple health conditions alongside sight loss. Insight report: Bracknell Macular Society Support Group community engagement report |
| Voluntary Support North Surrey hold a ‘Time to Talk’ group with a focus on mental health. They used their group meeting to discuss health and wellbeing priorities for them so that their insights can be captured. |
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Sakoon through Cancer supports South Asian Women who have had a cancer diagnosis or are carers. Using a wide range of methods including visual story telling, photo journals and art techniques, the group captured the views, experiences and perspectives of their members. Insight report: |
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20-30 families that are supported by HomeStart Waverley took part in two focused conversation events covering North Farnham and South Farnham. The events were combined with a stay and play activity and they discussed and recorded what matters most to them and their challenges in achieving this. |
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Rushmoor Voluntary Services worked with volunteers that support their community garden ‘Blooming Marvellous’ group to hold conversations with people facing mental health challenges. |
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Women that are part of Utulivu women’s Group held conversations in Slough about their health and wellbeing priorities. Feedback was gathered through informal discussions and creative sessions that promote mental wellbeing. |
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Established in 1997, Slough Refugee Support (SRS) is committed to impartially assisting refugees and asylum seekers in Slough and in the surrounding areas. SRS delivered a series of five weekly one-hour long coffee morning sessions for their clients to capture their insights. |
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Bracknell Area Deaf and Hard of Hearing Support Group (BADHOGS) worked with local Healthwatch and Sign Language Interpreters to hold a conversation with their members to share their insights, experiences and desires for the future. Insight reports: |
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Visual Art Studio based in Slough worked with their tutor to co-create a large collaborative artwork that reflects the group's thoughts, experiences, and wellbeing priorities. Many of the participants have been referred by GPs due to loneliness or mental health challenges. Insight:
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Project Together, Rushmoor tackle the loneliness and social isolation of the most vulnerable Nepali people living in Rushmoor through working to overcome the language and digital barriers. Insight report: |
As this programme of work has been developed, a number of conversations have taken place with voluntary sector partners via our new VCSE Alliance. This has resulted in the development of a process that recognises that we, ‘the NHS’, are not always best placed to lead conversations with local people and communities. Shifting power to our voluntary, community and faith partners to lead connections is an important part of this work and the start of an important shift to working in a new way – developing new connections and resetting the way partnerships can work across Frimley.
The Community Engagement Fund was introduced so that VCSE organisations could apply for small amounts of funding for support to carry out community engagement and listening activity. The application process was streamlined to make the process as simple and straightforward as possible so that community engagement activity could be carried out quickly allowing insight to feed into the national government consultation where possible.
Successful applicants were provided with ‘conversation starter’ resources to support them with conversations but we didn’t want to be limited by our existing knowledge, so we were interested to hear from anyone who felt that they could contribute and support local people and communities to participate and share their views on the priorities that mattered most to them when it comes to health and wellbeing.
We encouraged applications that ensured system demographic representation and those that reached people and communities experiencing health inequalities. The fund is supported by the Frimley VCSE Alliance and funding is administered by Hart Voluntary Action.
The Community Engagement Fund for 2024/25 aims to spark a meaningful dialogue across Frimley Health and Care, inviting local people and communities to reconnect, reset, and rebuild their health and wellbeing priorities. This fund will provide small grants to voluntary, community, charity, and faith organisations to facilitate engagement and listening exercises with local people, helping us identify what matters most to them. While we will provide a template document for capturing feedback and insights, we welcome creative approaches to sharing outputs, such as visual or audio stories, video testimonials, case studies or community artwork. Applicants are encouraged to bring forward ideas that best represent the voices and unique perspectives of their communities. Whether through events, focus groups, or informal gatherings, the goal is to ensure everyone, especially those facing health inequalities, has the opportunity to shape local health priorities in ways that resonate with their lived experiences.