SHAPE project

Our final workshop

Our last ' Test and Refine' workshop took place on Thursday the 7th of Febuary. The aim was to make final refinements to the service vision and to reflect on the past four workshops, suggesting improvements to the engagement model.

Again, we started the process presenting the overall service vision - "An information service to access relevant travel information relating to your health" - including various service channels and elements which we started visualising after the last workshop. Part of this was a service storyboard which took a fictional persona - Bob - through the new service experience, highlighting new touchpoints along the way. Have a look and click on some of the thumbnails on the left.

Split into two groups, participants then spent some time analysing the service vision, user story and touchpoints. Where possible, they added their comments and thoughts on what works well and what needs improvement. At the end of the session, a spokesperson of each group summarised people’s thoughts and presented them back to the rest of the audience, initiating a general discussion around the service details and improvement suggestions.

The second part of the workshop focussed on gaining feedback on the engagement process we went through with the aim to develop a refined and transferable engagement model that Bucks County Council could apply to various projects in the future. We started summarising the various workshop steps and asking people to comment on them and tell us when they felt positively and/ or negatively engaged. We then discussed the refined model which was developed according to people’s specifications on their feedback forms after each workshop.

The session was closed with a summary of the engagement process, followed by a small question and answer session facilitated by I&DeA Principal Consultant Mary McVey.

Our next - and very exciting - step is the visualisation of the service, making it as tangible as possible. Also, we're planning to host a small launch event around the end of March where we will invite all participants and other key stakeholders. We're hoping that with this event, we will be able to identify ways of how to develop our service vision further and start implementing small but powerful changes to the system.

Check out the blog for more details on this!

Service modeling workshop

On Thursday, 17th of January, our arguably most important workshop - Service modeling - took place. We all met in Princes Risborough - same venue, same time - to develop a shared vision of what a transport information service would be like by 2012. From there, we wanted to explore who might be using - or providing - the service and simulate their journey experience.

So, what did we do?

We started the process by summarising the problems and service objectives which had been identified (see illustrations).

We then divided into three groups. Each group was asked to have a structured discussion around their future vision of accessing transport and travel information with the aim to find consensus amongst each other. They were also given a vision map to populate with some cards showing words and images to help them describe the future. In the next exercise, participants were asked to take their vision further and contextualise it. They were given three personas of which they should choose one to tell a story about. The idea was to get participants to empathise and think the service proposition through step by step, identifying the various activities, people, environments and touchpoints along the way.

Next step was to present the vision(s) and storyboards to the rest of the team and to highlight each service innovation. There was great coherence amongst the group. Most people felt that the future lies in creating an integrated booking & travel information service.

WWW.MYHEALTHJOURNEYPLANNER.ORG

Myhealthjourneyplanner.org would be a database to be accessed either online by individuals or health providers themselves at the point of referral. Have a look at the image to the left to see more statements people came up with. They are all written from the user's perspective.

Whilst people were discussing and presenting their stories, the workshop facilitators started filling in service innovation cards, placing them on a vision roadmap. The vision roadmap is a tool we used to map out our ideas, think about how we can bring them to life, which small steps we can start realising from tomorrow onwards, and which barriers we need to overcome.

Well done team! We're now working hard to develop all of our ideas and start visualising exciting future scenarios. Watch this space for more updates...

Call for comments!

You can use the opportunity to leave your comments after an entry, simply by clicking on 'Comments' right underneath the post. You can leave your name and email address if you like! It's really easy to use. If you have any question, email me and I'll help you where I can.

A useful link

Transport Direct

Transport Direct is a useful website that offers information for door-to-door travel for both public transport and car journeys around Britain.

Click here to go to their website. You can also find it under USEFUL LINKS on our website.

Project decision

After asking people to reflect on the two projects and get back to us with the one they would like to pursue in the next sessions, we now came to a conclusion. Although the decision was tight, people voted for the:

'Travel information service - A project around redesigning access to travel information, creating more demand-responsive services'.

We think this is a great project to take further and are excited about the next steps!

Two project ideas!

Your Travel Co-ordinator – a travel information service
A project around redesigning access to travel information, creating more demand-responsive services

This project tackles the problem of inaccessible travel information in a short and long term. The aim is to develop a travel and transport information service which helps with the planning of journeys, involving public transport for older people. The idea is to develop a vision of a future service that enables older people to access relevant and up-to-date travel information. Drawing from this vision, we will develop tangible ‘products’, using the resources we currently have to demonstrate how simple improvements can help address the problem. For example, a transport referral service – a phone service for health users - might be one way of doing so, or collating existing timetable information together to create a common platform for people to refer to. In the long term, we might re-think how the NHS deals with transport enquiries and whether GP’s should provide information of how to get to their surgery and back. Computer terminals in GP practices and an integrated travel and appointment booking system for those that need it, are steps that may be explored further down the process.

Community-led transport DIY
A project around developing a model for a community-led transport scheme

This project addresses the need for encouraging more communities to develop volunteer based transport schemes.  More specifically, the project would be around creating guidelines for communities to develop their own affordable and community-led transport solution to make transport more accessible and increase the use of sustainable transport modes. We will have to find a person who leads the project –  a community champion– and a group of potential users . Also, we might have to provide support and training during the consultation and design process, key of which would be to support local communities to work with key partners to identify additional funding.

Generation workshop - a pool of ideas

The Generation workshop took place the 13th of December. Our aim was to collaboratively generate lots of exciting ideas for potential services and to then select the most appropriate one/s to develop further.

We started discussing the different levels that the opportunities operated on: some opportunities lie within policy making, whereas some others address more tangible ‘quick fix’ aspects of the transport environment including the re-design of bus shelters for instance. In order to progress, it was important for the workshop participants to share their views on which type of projects we should tackle within the SHAPE 50+ project.

We then had to focus down, so we asked people to vote on which ideas they would like to take forward. The four chosen areas were:

1. Improving rural and cross-border transport links
2. Improving planning and collaboration between transport, housing and health authorities
3. Improving and simplifying access to information before travel
4. Facilitating and fostering community-led schemes

Divided into four groups, participants discussed one opportunity area each. They were asked to write down their thoughts on problems and potential service improvements using sticky post-its and to describe their final ideas on a card.

After each group had produced a few idea cards, they picked their favorite one to present it to the rest of the group.Ideas included:

1. Readily available information on what is NOW available to increase the use of all public and community transport (new touchpoints and a platform for existing information)
2. Extend quality bus route schemes between large population centres which are in different LA areas
3. Improved communication at GP surgeries for the benefit of the end user (GP becoming provider of various services, i.e. providing transport information to and from the surgery using the patients’ data)
4. ‘Your travel information PA’, a short and long term action plan a) Transport referral service – a phone service for health users b) Computer terminals in GP practices with NHS transport info (Self-service) c) Integrated travel and appointment booking system for those that need it.
5. Toolkit for a community-led transport service to enable others to set up their own schemes

Following this exercise, people evaluated their ideas on the criterias of high and low impact vs. high and low effort. They were asked to reflect on the ideas and get back to us with the project they would like to pursue in the next sessions.

Project opportunity clusters

In between the Discovery and Generation workshop, Engine helped us destilling the problems and opportunities into 10 project opportunity clusters. Have a look and see! (just click on the image beside)

Discovery workshop- here we come

On December the 6th, we had our first workshop! We started asking participants to share their views on the project and process as a whole. Key points included:

HOPES

•    Lots of new ideas
•    Make health care more accessible
•    A consistent service proposition
•    Make the voice of older people a strong voice
•    Learn
•    Toolkit for community-led transport schemes
•    Make something happen!
•    More flexibility
•    A business plan
•    An action plan to work from
•    Appoint people to actions
•    A strategic approach of local infrastructures

FEARS

•    People still not listening to older people
•    Just another lovely set of guidelines or talk shop
•    Not to manage expectations
•    Financial constraints

Participants then discussed most important 'problem areas' on using transport when getting to a GP for instance. Key aspects people brought up included information, access, wayfinding, little or no bus service, timetables, insufficient and inconvenient public transport, just to mention a few.

Two of the participants presented the journey they've prepared for the workshop to the group, highlighting the various challenges and surprises they encountered along the way. Workshop participants were asked to write their impressions down on sticky-notes and post them on the wall. These were categorised into needs, problems and opportunities. The journey ‘touchpoints’ were also collected and posted to identify disappointing and thrilling moments before, during and after each of the individual journeys.

Before closing the session, the group reviewed reviewed the clusters of problems and opportunities that had emerged throughout the workshop in posted sticky-notes and wall-illustrations and were given a final opportunity for comment.

Discovery workshop - only three more days to go!

Discovery workshop - only three more days to go!

On Thursday the 6th, our first co-design workshop will take place!

Collaboratively with users and providers, we will work through a number of activities to get a better understanding of the issues and problems around transport and access to medical services for the 50+ generations. Watch this space for more information...