Around 700 people were involved in this Engage Britain project that started in Spring 2021, they included diverse members of the community including people with disabilities, long-term health conditions, those who draw on social care support and people who work in health or care.

Together, the participants in these Community Conversations shared experiences of health and care. Many spoke about feeling grateful for the NHS: “The NHS is an absolutely amazing organization. We don’t know how lucky we are” said one contributor. Others described the system as overstretched: “The NHS and social care are facing two major challenges at the present. One is money, lack of money, mismanagement of money, or the wastage of money. Number two is the lack of manpower.”

A selection of these conversation clips can be seen on video, along with a summary of the findings, which can be found on the Engage Britain website.

The experiences shared offered new, in-depth insights into the state of health and care today, with some clear themes emerging. To see how widely spread these issues are, they were then taken to a larger audience in a survey, the results of which can be seen here.

If you would like to have your say, there are still ways to get involved.  Visiting the Engage Britain website you can complete their survey, you also have the opportunity to upload a video to share your experiences or views.