Working with people and communities

Since starting in role at the beginning of 2022, our ICB Insights Manager has spent time mapping out previously underserved communities, establishing contacts and developing a strategy for building relationships with these groups. She visits a wide range of communities across Gloucestershire, at least twice a month, without an agenda and often gets involved in the planned activities of the groups, such as women’s weight training in Cheltenham and serving behind the counter in a local community café in Gloucester.

Open, honest conversations and being seen often has helped establish trust amongst these communities and has begun to reveal interesting concerns and needs relating to health and wellbeing matters. The proactive collection of individual and group experiences is then shared with relevant teams across the ICB and wider system, to ensure this data informs service development, delivery and evaluation of reducing health inequalities programmes.

Such insights have resulted in a variety of awareness/education events, and other projects across the system. Additionally, continuous visits to the groups allow the Insights Manager to update them on any developments or updates on where conversations are regarding topics raised by the community. Similarly, when teams across the ICB and wider system require input from these communities to help co-design services to meet their needs, the Insight Manager liaises between them and the communities, providing expertise and advice on how best to engage with the groups and ensuring a feedback mechanism is put in place to maintain the relationships.

Some examples of this work are documented as case studies on the right of this page.