Our Shared Stories: a ‘Conversation of Change’

How people’s lived experience can inform quality improvement

A 'Conversation of Change' event report by Caty Collier, Senior Change Manager, It’s All About People Personalisation Programme

“It’s Increasingly important that we value peoples’ stories as much as number counting.

I am keen to use the stories and experiences we gather through the services we commission to produce a compelling narrative that describes people’s experiences, hopes and fears in order to better support them in future.”

Conversation of Change event delegate

On Wednesday 18 June the It’s All About People Personalisation team hosted a Conversation of Change event at The Showroom in Lincoln to explore some of the initial findings from Lincolnshire’s Community Reporting project.

This inspiring event brought together local voices, professionals, and changemakers to explore how real experiences can reshape health and social care services in Lincolnshire.

Keynote Speaker: Adam Lent

The afternoon began with a brief but powerful keynote from Adam Lent from the King’s Fund.

Adam spoke about hope, and how radical change in the way public services work with people and communities is needed to escape the ‘crisis vice’ –  the situation where demand for services and care increases at the same time as depleting the resources available to meet those challenges.

Adam praised the Our Shared Agreement work already underway in Lincolnshire, and emphasised that transformational change comes as a result of people at all levels choosing to do things differently.

He highlighted how grassroots movements can gain momentum to a point where they drive system change.

The emerging ‘Do With’ movement aims to do just that. It is a national network of people and organisations in the public and community sectors calling for a fundamental shift in the public sector from ‘doing to’ to ‘doing with’.

Sharing Lincolnshire stories

This set the scene for Kath Peters and Georgia Davenport from People’s Voice Media to introduce some of the individual stories gathered so far as part of the Lincolnshire Community Reporting project.

Explore the growing Our Shared Stories library

Eunice shares her experience of being the carer of a parent with Dementia

The video and audio clips had a profound impact on delegates, as the emotional and long-term impacts of people’s experiences were conveyed in a way that is often missing in other formats.

Georgia facilitated discussions that enabled the delegates to reflect on how the stories related to their own experiences, and then discuss key themes arising from the shared experiences. 

Common themes included:

• Increased stress and anxiety from having to fight to get services/support
• Communication – e.g., information delivered in ways people don’t understand, or that set expectations that are not delivered
• Not wanting to be a nuisance, but feeling overwhelmed
• The wider impacts on people’s work, family, and health when the system doesn’t ‘work’

The next step was to generate ideas and identify actions delegates could each take in their own areas of influence. Talking about change is all very well, so turning ideas into meaningful action was the focus of the last session of the day.

Actions identified by delegates:

• Sharing stories of hope/change more widely – show what’s possible, how things could be
• Let staff know that they can take ownership and do things differently
• Co-production – involve people who use services in shaping the development of those services
• Emphasise compassion and empathy over fearful and risk-averse behaviours
• Honesty and listening to the workforce
• Better conversations with people

At the end of the event delegates were we're encouraged to provide answers to the question ‘What can I do?’. Below are a few of the pledges made:

• “I can share resources with people about the community reporting method and lived experience storytelling.”
• “Investigate flexibility around support for dementia patients and their carers.”
• “Not presume system needs align with the wants of patients.”
• “Talk to churches and community organisations about changing the timings of groups – think about workers too.”
• “Share the videos with people who inform decision-making.”
• “Bring personalisation/Our Shared Agreement ideas to Public Health.”

Change starts with small steps and shared hope.