Who we are
The Community Engagement and Experience Team in partnership with patients, families, carers, local communities and teams to ensure the community voice is at the heart of all we do. Together, we have developed Alongside Communities - our approach to engagement and inclusion. In this, we describe the things that our community have asked us to focus on improving - the things that matter most to them.
Our vision is to improve health, reduce inequalities and improve the experience of care by working with people and communities.
How we work
In the team we start with what’s strong, not with what’s wrong. We recognise the value of lived experience and seek out team members and community partners willing to share their knowledge. We strive to build trusting relationships with the communities we serve, working with different groups of people who share in our ambitions to improve our services in line with our core values.
Our team values
- People participation - enabling people who use our services to be at the centre of decision making about their care and treatment at all stages.
- Community engagement - understanding what our community does best, what they may need some help with, and what we need to focus our expertise on.
- Health Inequalities - adopting a positive approach to improving access to services, experience of care, and health outcomes for all.
- Experience of care - improving the experience of care for our diverse community by understanding the causes for dissatisfaction.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight out of hours support for carers
We know caring for a loved one can take place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can find support and infomation on our Carers pages.
Reports
Newsletters
Veronica Gordon
Our Version Media (OVM) is a community media enterprise dedicated to increasing positive visibility of black and other communities who are underrepresented or misrepresented by the press and media. It was founded by former TV news journalist, Veronica Gordon, and is committed to empowering and upskilling people through digital media and amplifying their voices. OVM teaches individuals and community groups digital media skills to tell and share their own, authentic stories. From teenagers to over 60s, OVM trains a wide range of people, regardless of technical ability. The Mobile Storytelling and Community Reporting workshops use a combination of community activism and mobile journalism to show participants the ways of smartphone film-making and compelling storytelling.
OVM has taken underrepresented voices all the way to Parliament when Veronica was invited to speak at a Parliamentary event earlier this year. It followed the release of a national social enterprise impact report about the Lloyds Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme, of which Veronica is a Fellow: “It was beautiful for me as founder to read the feedback from beneficiaries. […] 96% of the people that we worked with said that we had a positive impact on their community.”
The skills learned are increasing people’s confidence and self-esteem, as well as providing modern digital skills for personal and professional development. To showcase this, OVM hosts an annual community stories screening at MAST Mayflower Studios, showing the short videos that learners made during their workshops. Veronica described this as an inspiring and uplifting event that celebrates local people and their stories, and provides opportunities for connecting, sharing and networking. Even after graduation, Veronica was happy to say that OVM keeps in touch with people, through additional media skills development, opportunities, and supporting them in their various endeavours.
Contact us
Email: ceet@solent.nhs.uk