Happy new year!
2023 was another packed year for us at Thrive by Design. Another year of hard work, care and unbelievable commitment to our mission to make digitally enabled health and care more accessible and equitable.
As we’ve started 2024 we’ve taken time to look back and reflect on what we have achieved over the last 12 months and to look forward to what we want to achieve over the next year too.
A look back
2023 was another tough year for so many (you may notice that this is how I started my new year blog post last year, but it’s still very true).
The NHS and health and care generally has seen yet another year of big challenges. From large scale industrial action to structural changes like the merging of NHS Digital into NHS England.
And after the formalisation of the Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) back in 2022, we’re already seeing the next iteration of ICS structures and ways of working being introduced.
These changes and challenges are not going away anytime soon. So we need to continue to adapt to them and the environment around us.
In 2023 we were able to continue to build on our work of the last few years working with teams across health and care to better understand and design ways to tackle digital health inequity.
Highlights include:
Developing a digital inclusion strategy and strategic plan with North East and North Cumbria ICS – including designing and hosting an accessible digital inclusion event in Newcastle in November.
Testing the latest iteration of the MyNeeds App design and prototype to better understand how technology can support people to identify and articulate their needs when interacting with services.
Supporting the ReVise study by engaging with people in Manchester, Cambridge and Peterborough to inform the co-design of an implementation model for ophthalmic remote consultation with vision self-testing.
Progressing the second phase of the Remote by Default project with Prof Trish Greenhalgh, Prof Sara Shaw and their team at the University of Oxford.
Developing a partnership with Leeds GATE to support the work across West Yorkshire looking to improve access to perinatal and maternal mental health support for Gypsies and Travellers.
Continuing our partnership with the team at Volition to maintain and develop MindWell.
Facilitating an exploration into inclusive civic participation and digital inclusion with the INCLUDE+ Team.
Working with the team at Airedale Digital Care Hub to understand opportunities for enhancing the inclusivity of their digitally enabled COPD service.
Continuing to support Digital Notts’s Digital and Social Incluiosn ambitions, this year working more closely with specific localities in the ICS area.
And growing our community of people interested in and working on Inclusive Digital Transformation on our FutureNHS workspace to over 750.
Looking forward
2024 promises to be another challenging year but one that we are prepared for. As the environment we work in continues to evolve, so must we. So over the coming months we’ll start to share more on how we are adapting as a team to the challenges and opportunities that are coming up.
We are still as committed as ever in our mission to apply our skills and experience to support teams across health and care to make a positive impact and design ways to make the health and care services they provide accessible and equitable for the people who need them.
We know this is not an easy task but it’s one we’re committed to.
Working with us
We may be a relatively small team, but we’re prepared to take on big challenges so would love to work with you.
If there is something you have read in this post that you are interested in learning more about, or perhaps you are coming up against a related challenge that you need some support with, please do get in touch. We can help from the initial understanding of what the problems are through to co-designing improvements with you and the people who need to access your services.
It all starts with an open conversation, so you can contact me at tim.brazier@nhs.net to arrange a chat.
Thank yous
Finally, as ever, we need to take a moment to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported and partnered with us over the last year to help us continue to deliver our mission. A particular mention has to go to Dawn Hanwell and the team at LYPFT for their unwavering support and all our commissioners and project teams for working with us so openly and collaboratively. And we definitely need to say a massive thank you to former colleagues Zoe and Ali who made so much happen for us in 2023 that we will be building on for years to come.
Happy 2024 – let’s make it a year where we can be proud to look back on the positive impact we have made.
If you’d like to learn more about our team and the work we’re doing, you can check out Our Learning page or head over to FutureNHS where you can share your experiences, ask questions and discuss ideas with over 750 people all working to tackle digital inequality and inequity in access to health and care.
