Welcome to our first new E-Newsletter!

Engaging Communities South West (ECSW)  is a not for profit organisation offering Engagement, Evaluation, Communications support, Digital support, Training and support to the statutory, voluntary and private sectors.

Our aim is to update you monthly about the various activities and projects ECSW has been involved in and helped get under way in our community.

First this month, a quick word or two about us, what we do and what we can provide to the statutory, voluntary and private sectors...

ECSW run different projects in the community while also managing the contract for award-winning independent health and social care community champion Healthwatch Torbay.

Engaging Communities South West is a not for profit organisation offering services at a price you can afford, with an experienced team of paid staff, trained volunteers and community researchers ready to work with you to improve your services and extend your reach. 

Community engagement - an essential tool for all sectors

Whether you are planning new health systems, developing a new product or testing an idea to attract funding for your organisation, you need good quality data.

With that in mind, our engagement team is routed in local communities.  We have the trust of local people who value our independence and respect our impartial approach, meaning that we can, for example, run focus groups, gather case studies and people’s feedback, and set up community engagement events.

While it’s getting harder for the community and voluntary sector to provide the essential help which supports wellbeing and brings communities together, we can offer our skills and expertise to support and highlight the impact, outcomes and successes that funders may require when evaluating any projects.

We can also help build and support consortia so that partner agencies can concentrate on delivering the things they do best whilst also having the size and expertise to bid for contracts in an ever competitive market place.

Coronavirus Helpline

As a good example of how we can work together, a recent project has involved engaging communities through a Coronavirus Community Helpline.

Our staff and volunteers have been supporting a local community helpline, started initially for those affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic and open to the people of Torbay to request help, volunteer their assistance or refer anyone who needs help.

It became a huge operation, taking more than 16,000 calls and touching base with nearly 5,000 people.

The Torbay Community Helpline is operated by staff, volunteers, associates and partners of various different Torbay organisations, They include: the Torbay Community Development Trust, Brixham Does Care, Age UK Torbay, Healthwatch Torbay, Ageing Well Torbay, Citizens Advice Torbay, the Torbay Advice Network, Homemaker Southwest and What’s Your Problem, all working alongside Torbay Council and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust. While The Torbay Food Alliance has brought together food banks across the Bay, and has provided more than 250,000 meals since the crisis began and is expecting a significant increase in demand.

The helpline, by the way, recently appealed for any help with the vaccination efforts at the Riviera International Conference Centre in Torquay, in particular – Marshalls for marshalling people in and out of the RICC, and support for the likes of nervous patients.

To date more than 200 volunteers have signed up to help at the Riviera Centre and if you’d still like to try and apply, call Torbay Community Helpline on 01803 446022, or fill in the online form at bit.ly/torbayhelpline

Our Digital Work

Another good example of us working successfully together is the Digital Health Devon project, supported by the NHS and offering free guidance to show people how to use online healthcare resources.

The COVID-19 outbreak has been a difficult time for us all, including local health, care, wellbeing and community support services.

These services have had to adapt to help protect the public, their staff, clients and visitors, with many introducing a ‘digital’ way for you to use their service. This may have involved using technology such as computers, tablets or smartphones to use the service via the internet.

Digital Health Devon is an award-winning partnership of organisations – including charities and consumer champions such as Healthwatch - offering free digital guidance in Devon to show people how to use the internet to access local health, social care and wellbeing resources such as appointment-booking, prescription-ordering and online consultation services.

We have fantastic volunteer Digital ‘trainers’ who donate their time to helping local people with their digital queries. This could be via regular weekly online ‘virtual drop in sessions’ using Zoom, social media or even 1-to-1 advice and guidance either over the phone, via email or webchat.

With the growing digital healthcare sector and demand on services, there is a real need for this type of project to show people how to access healthcare digitally and remotely from their own homes.

By the way, during the COVID pandemic all our e-learning resource pages are open and free to use without the need to register, with a unique search feature option which allows people to filter by location or by category. You can view our selection of e-learning resources via https://digitalhealthdevon.co.uk/my-courses/

If you’re interested in getting involved or helping support the Digital Health Devon Project, please email info@digitalhealthdevon.co.uk or visit the project e-learning website for free at www.digitalhealthdevon.co.uk.

Engaging with our Polish community

Our ongoing work running the independent healthcare consumer champion service Healthwatch Torbay service has allowed us to branch out and reach even more diverse sections of the community.

In the summer of 2020, Healthwatch Torbay were asked by the Palace Theatre in Paignton to recite a poem for the NHS – ‘These are the Hands’ by Michael Rosen, for a project where members of the local community our videoed reciting relevant poems to uplift the local social media community during COVID-19 lockdown.

The whole Torbay team did this and our own Healthwatch Torbay and Engaging Communities South West project support worker Aleksandra Burckett even recited the poem in her native Polish tongue to be shared online, which was very well-received by the local community. The video of this is and words to the poem itself can be found by clicking here.

Since then, Ola, as she prefers to be called, has been translating vital information about COVID-19 into Polish for the local community, including working with the local Public Health Team in Torbay, which has been shared on all the Healthwatch websites in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, along with various different Polish Facebook groups, Polish shops and other places.

In November Ola became a COVID ‘Champion’ for Torbay, an initiative run by Public Health where Champions receive an up-to-date local Coronavirus information and share this with as many people as possible, including local Healthwatch, friends, family, work colleges and of course the local Polish community.

Her work has recently featured on BBC Radio Devon!

Do you want to help local people and your community?

Can you spare some time to support a new, exciting, and dynamic charity?

Are you interested in improving health and wellbeing for all in your area?

We are looking to recruit high calibre, dynamic new Board Trustees to continue our work and play a pivotal role in improving local communities. We are very excited at the prospect of welcoming passionate new members to our team, so if you are keen to be involved and make a difference, we would be delighted to hear from you.

We are particularly keen to hear from local people that have either business or finance knowledge or a general interest in the health and wellbeing of our local communities. If you would like to take part in this great opportunity and think you could help then please get in touch.

If you would like a confidential informal discussion about the voluntary role, please contact info@engagingcommunitiessouthwest.org.uk or freephone on 08000 520 029 to arrange a suitable time.

For a copy of the application pack please email info@engagingcommunitiessouthwest.org.uk or click here to download.

You really could make a big difference.