Working with People and Communities to Improve Health Outcomes

Learn how to engage with different people and communities to reduce inequalities and ensure inclusive access to healthcare with this online course from NHS England.

Duration

2 weeks

Weekly study

3 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

Learn more

Help the people you work with access healthcare services

Understanding how to work effectively with diverse groups can help you better meet the needs of the different people you work with. This two-week course from NHS England will show you how simple changes can create big improvements to people’s lives and transform their access to healthcare services.

You’ll take a strengths-based approach to understand how you can work with people and not systems. With this knowledge, you’ll learn how your work can have a bigger impact.

Understand how people have different experiences in their access to healthcare

You’ll unpack how different communities can have very different experiences of healthcare as you identify who faces bigger barriers.

With this knowledge, you’ll learn how to consider different perspectives in the design and delivery of healthcare services.

Explore inclusive engagement activities

To help ensure better care and efficient use of resources, you’ll delve into the inclusive engagement practices you can use in your context. With this understanding, you’ll learn the importance of making people feel heard when you engage with them.

You’ll also learn how to look at a diverse population and ensure equitable representation rather than equal representation.

Develop an awareness of implicit bias and underrepresentation

To further ensure the inclusivity of your engagement practices, you’ll explore implicit bias and how you can navigate this to break down barriers to healthcare access.

You’ll also discover the underrepresented groups in England and the strategies you can implement to ensure wider groups of the public are represented in healthcare.

By the end of this course, you’ll have the practical tools and knowledge to understand how to successfully involve people and communities in your work.

  • Week 1

    What and why

    • Welcome to Working with People and Communities

      A welcome from the Public Participation team and a bit about what you'll learn during the course.

    • Being heard

      Explore the difference between being 'engaged with' as a tick box exercise and being meaningfully involved. We'll start to consider that what 'good' looks like will change across different communities.

    • Valuing communities

      Why it's important to take the time to understand a community's needs and look at what is already working.

    • How Indigo works with with their community

      We look at a specific example of Indigo, a gender health service based in Manchester.

    • Reflecting on the what and the why

      Opportunity to consider what you've learned during this week.

  • Week 2

    Who and when

    • Welcome to Week 2

      Welcome to the second week of our course on working in partnership with people and communities to improve health outcomes.

    • Who should we be involving?

      Exploring who needs to be included when we’re working with people and communities, including gauging community and population needs and looking at the importance of good data relating to people and communities.

    • How do we find out what populations need?

      In this activity we'll explore what's available that will help you learn what the people and communities you're working with need.

    • Planning your engagement activities

      Who can help me work in partnership with people and communities, and when and how should I start? What are some of the barriers I might come up against along the way?

    • Wrap up

      What have we explored this week, and what have you learned?

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