Working with people and communities should provide the foundation for innovation, service design and research. We use co-production and other participatory approaches to inform what we do. This page highlights recent and ongoing work.
1: Gypsy, Roma and Travellers: Attitudes to healthcare data for planning and research
At Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley (HIOTV), as part of our work with the Thames Valley and Surrey Secure Data Environment (TVS SDE), we have collaborated with Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) on a vital qualitative engagement project. This work highlights crucial insights into how healthcare data is perceived and, more importantly, how we can build trust with communities often overlooked. This will help shape the TVS SDE.
- Download the ‘Gypsy, Roma and Travellers – Attitudes to healthcare data for planning and research’ report (pdf)
- Watch a three-minute animation featuring voices from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities discussing their perspectives on personal health data issues.
- Watch a webinar exploring how healthcare data is perceived among Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities – part of the ‘seldom heard’ webinar series – see below.
2: Seldom heard webinar series
Between 2020 and 2023 HIOTV hosted ten webinars focusing on engaging a range of seldom heard communities. There were three series covering different aspects of mental health, people with learning disabilities and sensory impairments, as well as members of the LGBTQ+ community. There were also two discussions focused on men’s health issues. In March 2025 an additional webinar on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities was recorded and subsequently added to this collection of recordings. Find the full playlist on our YouTube channel.
3: Conversations about heart health
NHS England commissioned HIOTV to find out what people know and think about heart health. In particular, they wanted to hear from communities whose voices are seldom heard, and who appear to be at greater risk of heart health problems. During 2022-23, we engaged three communities:
- Polish people in Birmingham
- People who live in an area of multiple deprivation in Slough
- People from a South Asian heritage who attend the Mosque in Banbury.
We worked collaboratively with each community to design engagement approaches which were most likely to encourage people to share their thoughts. After each engagement activity, we analysed the results and fed back the results to the community and to local health partners. Read more about the heart health conversations project here.