From case studies to stories of impact: Inside the People’s Stories Workshop

Behind every statistic is a story, and behind every story is a person.

Have you ever been asked to write a case study about people you've supported? Maybe it felt a bit formal or impersonal - like you were trying to fit a real, complex human story into a tight box of facts and figures.

On Thursday 24 July, tucked away in a quiet room behind the canteen at Lincoln County Hospital, 17 partners from across the county's health and care system gathered for a workshop led by Alison and Caty from the It’s All About People Personalisation Programme team to do something different.

Our People’s Stories Workshop was designed to explore new, more human ways of capturing the difference we make in people’s lives. So, this wasn’t about writing dry case notes - it was about learning how to tell stories that truly reflect people’s voices, experiences, and the impact personalised health and care has on them.

The workshop began by exploring the group’s experiences and views on creating case studies. From there, we moved into a series of activities with a person-centred focus. These activities used simple, proven techniques to help people to open up and tell their stories in their own words.

The group also encouraged to explore best practice, ethics, and practical issues such as consent. What does it mean to share someone’s experience responsibly? How do we balance recording and demonstrating impact with integrity?

People's Stories Template tool

The workshop provided the perfect opportunity to introduce the new People’s Stories Template tool that is being developed by the It's All About People team alongside a partnership of people from across health and social care in Lincolnshire.

This tool will help users to connect the qualitative impacts and outcomes in people’s stories with quantitative data - such as financial and social value - and analyse themes and learning for quality improvement.

We'll continue to share the development and testing of this tool in future articles. 

Find out more

If you'd like to know more about this workshop or the People’s Stories Template, don't hesitate to contact us at ​lhnt.itsallaboutpeople@nhs.net