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Building strong community relationship among Berkshire residents who may need mental health support.
“I’m extremely pleased with how FG Connect could recruit the target groups within the given parameters. We were able to capture insights from real people in the community and consequently, serve them better.”
Nikki Malin, Head of Marketing and Communications
Berkshire Healthcare
NHS Foundation Trust
Objective
It has been established that almost every resident in Berkshire, one way or another, may need services of NHS Berkshire Healthcare at some point in their lives. Young parents may need support. Patients may need support in their community hospitals. Therapists may be required for speech, physical and occupational health needs. General counselling may be needed. It has also been observed that 1-in-4 residents in Berkshire may experience mental health problems at some point in their lives. A community reach out campaign needed to be executed to find out how much awareness people had about the available healthcare services being provided by NHS Berkshire Healthcare, and what feedback people had to give so that NHS Berkshire Healthcare could provide better, more customised services.
Solution
In total 50 people were recruited for the workshops. Participants were chosen among existing service users and patients. Healthwatch groups were also roped in. PR campaign was used using other trusts, CCGs and local authorities to raise more awareness about the workshops. 5 of the 6 sessions were targeted at people with learning disabilities, teenagers and parents and their children – they were directly recruited by our service. Our recruitment activity was also supplemented through a professional street/telephone recruitment campaign so that a good representative sample of the population could be obtained. Food was arranged, and £30 High Street vouchers were offered to every person as a reward for participation. The recruitment process complied with the Market Society Code of Practice.
Result
The result was twofold: we didn’t just get real-time feedback on how NHS Berkshire Healthcare services could benefit people, meaningfully, we could also make more people aware of the available services and facilities they can benefit from. We were able to collect contact information and through word-of-mouth publicity, more people were educated about the mental health care help that was just a phone call away or an email away. The service delivery was improved and the NHS could deliver timely help to the most appropriate and needy individuals.
