What we do
Committed to quality and innovation, we bring you support and input from leading experts and specialists at cost-effective rates, with bespoke strategic input drawing on our extensive collective experiences.
Our best-practice approaches to public involvement and consultation empower the people you serve, bringing their voices right to the heart of your decision-making and helping you meet your organisation’s objectives and obligations.
We know how to get your project off the ground and make sure it’s a success because we’ve worked on scores of projects and programmes of all sizes, from moves and mergers of GP surgeries to major health and care system reconfigurations and new hospital builds.
See our range of services below or contact us with your specific requirements and the team will be happy to discuss how we can support you.
Public and patient engagement
Public and patient engagement work is at the heart of what we do. In South Tyneside, we led a learning disability project to review short-term respite provision, engaging directly with patients, parents, and carers to understand their needs and experiences. Through workshops and in-depth reports, we crafted recommendations that echoed the feeling of these groups, ensuring voices were heard and integrated into service enhancements. We make sure engagement transforms into actionable insight.
Public consultation and analysis
From the first stage of service change to decisions, we work with our clients to provide the best public consultation. Specialising in large-scale NHS service change, we deliver independent, unbiased events, public hearings, focus groups, surveys and more. We provide clear, concise output and analysis making sure every voice is heard, shaping informed, equitable healthcare decisions.
Programme strategy and leadership
We guide programmes through change, as we did with the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Cancer Alliance in their review of non-surgical oncology services. Our advice on engagement, legalities, and change processes culminated in strong programme engagement with stakeholders and the public, and mitigated any significant risks to programme delivery. Our expert leadership streamlines and supports your long-term transformation goals.
Communications planning and delivery
We enhance communication strategies with clear, comprehensive solutions. For example, we crafted a tailored communications plan for Northumberland County Council's COVID response, addressing five key stakeholder categories with custom assets, including podcasts, videos, and social media strategies. Our guidance on COVID prevention and engagement strategies, bolstered by the community champion model, enhanced local outreach and informed the community effectively.
Training and education
We transform your team's understanding of service change with our unique training methods, including our "Service Change Snakes and Ladders". As colleagues at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust found, our board game makes the complex concepts of service change engaging and accessible, significantly enhancing staff readiness to deliver change.
Outputs analysis and reporting
Our output and analysis reporting is focused on delivering clear, concise information that helps our clients make informed choices about their work. At Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust we worked closely with the clinical pharmacy team to understand the most important things from all their work to date engaging and working with staff on the future of pharmacy services. This helped to develop a set of recommendations built on the firm foundations of solid reporting.
Focus groups
We enhance a project's depth and effectiveness through our expertly guided focus group discussions. For example, at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust we delivered tailored and independent focus group sessions, diving into team experiences to refine service improvements. These small, insight-rich sessions led to actionable proposals, setting the stage for impactful implementation.
Public hearing/meetings
Our approach to engagement in large-scale change allows you to transform public input into influential insights which can drive informed, community-centred healthcare decisions. In Mid and South Essex ICB, we facilitated pivotal public hearings focusing on the future of Maldon's community services. This approach allowed the public to make direct, impactful inputs with NHS decision-makers, ensuring every voice was genuinely heard and considered.
Background research - situation reviews and audits
Our situation review service provides comprehensive, unbiased reports for programmes undergoing change, integrating extensive background information and engagement work. With the Secure Data Environment team, we analysed diverse data sources to fully understand and baseline the context of data in the NHS. This helped our client shape key discussions and future directions with the Secure Data Environment committee.
Legal duties briefings
We provide strategic briefings on legal duties for NHS service changes, aligned to all relevant regulations and legislation. Our service ensures that our clients comply with the duty to involve, offering compliance assessment and advice on NHS England's regulations, enhancing stakeholder engagement and public trust in significant healthcare transformations.
Developing service change proposals
We work with our clients to drive service change plans forward, hand-in-hand with stakeholders and the public. We supported the Black Country Provider Collaborative in shaping urgent and elective service change proposals, engaging deeply with stakeholders, patients, and the public. Our collaborative efforts with Integrated Care Boards and VCSE organisations captured essential public insights, guiding the development of a compelling case for future service enhancements.
Drafting, designing and producing engagement and consultation documents
Solid documentation is at the heart of any good public consultation. We produce a wide range of consultation documents, from a formal public consultation document to up-to-date and meaningful FAQs, surveys, website copy, leaflets, social media assets and information packs for stakeholders, patients and the public.
Staff engagement
We work with teams to engage and co-design improvement opportunities hand-in-hand with staff. For example, we collaborated with Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to co-design clinical pharmacy improvements, driven by staff feedback. Through workshops, surveys, and discussions, we crafted a staff-backed improvement plan, boosting efficiency and morale. This initiative, supported by leadership, gave the team the tools to make good change happen.
Business case development and support
We're experts in business case development, especially when it comes to those needed in service change programmes. We worked with Staffordshire ICB to develop a pre-consultation business case for a major service change programme that had five significant change proposals. From maternity services, elective care and other big changes, we work in innovative and engaging ways to help you to develop solid and robust business cases to pass regional and national assurance and to lead your change on.
Impact analysis
Whether you're making a major service change or want to understand more about the impact of your current services, we can support you. We developed a travel impact assessment for our clients in South Yorkshire to understand the potential impact of moving non-surgical oncology services. From this, they were able to assure their stakeholders that no one would have to travel further than 45 minutes by car to see their oncologist. From travel, equality and your workforce, let us help you understand the impact of your proposals.
Success stories
