Community Voices

Using your feedback to improve care

NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB is working with District Councils and the local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector to develop and deliver a new engagement programme to help us listen to our communities and better understand experiences and opinions of accessing healthcare. It started during the COVID-19 pandemic to help us understand vaccine uptake, but has since looked at a range of services such as bowel cancer screening and stop smoking.

This pilot, known as Community Voices, works with trusted communicators to speak with communities who may not already engage with the NHS and other statutory bodies to hear what is important to them. We have learned that when talking to people about health services they also talk about a range of other issues that affect their health and wellbeing, such as housing and employment. We are designing ways to capture all this insight and make sure it is shared with people who design and deliver a range of services across Norfolk and Waveney.

The information we gathered early on in the first phase of the pilot was analysed by the University of East Anglia with the intention that this knowledge and insight is used to make positive changes to the way in which we engage with our communities and deliver services. NHS England has written a case study about Community Voices so our learning can be shared. Since the publication of the UEA report, Community Voices has undertaken several projects, learning from these different projects has been collated in the evaluation report which can be found here. Findings of the Community Voices Bowel Cancer screening (InHIP)  project can be found here. The Research Engagement Network (REN) Phase 2 programme evaluation report can he found here.

A case study about the Community Voices project to understand experiences of smoking can also been seen on the Community Conversations website, hosted by The Shoebox Enterprises Community Interest Company (CiC).

We would like to thank our host organisations, Community Champions and our communities for supporting this pilot.

This graphic summarises the work of Norfolk and Waveney Community Voices

How has insight collected by Community Voices made a difference so far?

Some of the insight helps us plan services:

  • To decide where to send the Wellness on Wheels (WoW) bus and what services to include
  • To inform the Serious Violence Duty needs assessment
  • To help a local council apply for funding bids and prioritise services in their council strategies
  • Make improvements to cancer screening services and improve uptake
  • Informed the Norfolk and Waveney Health Inequalities strategy
  • Informed the NHS Talking Therapies service design and procurement

Some of the insight helps the trusted communicators make a difference during their conversations:

Outcomes

This table shows the outcomes from the Community Voices conversations up to December 2024.

Information about local community groups given

58
Advised to contact GP


37
Support given to access benefits


25
Assisted to attend GP


19
Blue badge application completed

3
Vaccination information given


16
Child benefit application completed

2
Support given to attend local social events

8
Court summons prevented for council tax arrears

1
Drug and alcohol support referral completed

7
Housing application completed

6
Interpreted booked for health visit

4
PIP application completed


8
Support given to access dentist


8
Assisted to register with a GP


12
Support given to register on the NHS Low Income Scheme

3
Support given to become digitally



4
Medical information translated


3
Contact made with GP



11
NAS application completed



7

Children and Young People’s Asthma project

Community Voices undertook a Children and Young People’s Asthma project, learning gathered from the conversations about asthma with children and young people and their families was analysed by the Norfolk Office of Data Analytics. The full evaluation report can be found here and case studies can be found here.

Frequently asked questions

Below are some frequently asked questions, which will hopefully answer any queries you may have if you have been involved in a Community Voices project. Please note, we aim to update this list of questions periodically.

Click on a question below to reveal the answer.

  • How are we engaging with people?

    We work with local community and voluntary sector organisations and councils that host Community Champions. These Champions are trained to talk with people about their experiences with healthcare. Sometimes they focus on specific topics, like vaccinations, cancer screening, or health research. 

    These conversations happen in different ways- knocking on doors, chatting in groups, hosting events, or speaking one-on-one. The Champions then share what they hear (anonymised and without personal details) into a database called the Insight Bank. This information is analysed by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and the Norfolk Office of Data Analytics to help improve healthcare services. 

  • How else can Community Champions help?

    Community Champions will have access to a range of healthcare information including the latest information around vaccinations. 

    Whilst Champions can’t directly help with your healthcare needs or make referrals, they will be able to direct you to relevant information or services. 

  • What will happen to your information?

    Champions will only feed back anonymised information - meaning your personal details will never be collected or shared. 

    The Champions aim to report back conversation topics, general experiences and opinions of those they speak with into the Insight Bank held by the ICB. This information will then be shared with the Norfolk Office of Data Analytics for evaluation. 

    Conversations are completely voluntary, and you are able to change your mind at any point during the conversation. You also do not need to answer any questions you do not wish to or speak about any topics that you are not comfortable with. 

    Champions want the conversations to be an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Unfortunately, once the conversation content has been fed back into the database, it will not be possible to withdraw it due to technical reasons. 

  • How will the information you share with us help inform change?

    The information that you share with us will be anonymously reported back and analysed. This will then be shared with the NHS and the intention is that this insight could help inform areas of work such as community engagement methods, access to services and decision making. 

    As the programme evolves, we hope to embed this knowledge into ways of working and explore how we work with our partners to learn from our communities in order to improve our services and the way we work. We plan to develop an ‘insight bank’, where information gathered by our champions can be stored and help build a picture over time about what is important to local people. This would be made available to everyone involved in supporting people to live healthy, happy lives. 

  • I spoke with a Community Connector, are they the same as a Community Champion?

    The Community Voices Programme brings together a wide range of organisations across Norfolk and Waveney, all of whom are having conversations with their communities. Norwich City Council and North Norfolk District Council host Community Connectors, Great Yarmouth Borough Council have Community Marshals who might be involved in having Community Voices conversations.  

  • How can you provide suggestions/feedback about this project?

    We hope your experience of Community Voices will be positive, however if you have any concerns or would like to raise a complaint relating to your experience of speaking with a Champion, we encourage you to contact the host organisation directly as they will be best placed to support you. A full list of host organisations can be found below 

Host organisations

If you have any feedback or suggestions on how the pilot could be improved, or if you have any concerns relating to the pilot, we would like to hear from you. You can direct these to Norfolk and Waveney Complaints Team via the contact details set out below:

Feedback and Ideas:

If you would like to feedback any ideas or suggestions please contact us at: nwicb.communityvoices@nhs.net

Complaints or concerns:

Tel: 01603 595897

Address: NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB, Floor 8 County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 2DH

If you have any concerns about another service or provider, please contact them directly.