Hear our voices report

Healthwatch Herefordshire organised an event in collaboration with Mencap and others to look at ways of working with people with a learning disability. They spoke to 33 people with a learning disability at a workshop event on 19 October 2023.

Participants were asked how they prefer to share what is important to them. They were given 5 different ways of being consulted.

Surveys/polls/vote

Participants looked at 4 different surveys and commented on them by using smileys and writing.

• 13 people liked this type of involvement face-to-face and online.
• 14 people liked this type of involvement face-to-face only.
• 2 did not like this type of involvement at all and 2 were undecided. “Cos of the big words that I don’t understand or do not know what words mean”.

Focus groups

• 12 liked this way of involvement both face-to-face and online.
• 14 people liked this way of involvement face-to-face but not online.
• 3 didn’t like this method of involvement at all.
• 1 was undecided.

Committees

• 10 liked this way of involvement face-to-face or online.
• 12 liked this way of involvement face-to-face only. “I would need support to understand”.
• 8 didn’t like this way or were undecided. “Its embarrassing”.

Individual chats/ Interviews

• 14 liked this way of involvement face-to-face or online. “With support”.
• 13 liked this way of involvement face-to-face and not online.
• 3 didn’t like this way or were undecided “Too much typing”.

Hear Our Voices Get Togethers

• 24 liked the idea of Hear Our Voices get together as a way of getting involved/being consulted.
• 2 were undecided.
• 3 did not like this way of getting involved.

Healthwatch Herefordshire wants to feed this information back to services to inform them of better ways to hear the views of people with a learning disability.