The Fit for the Future team was delighted to have an opportunity to hold a workshop at the recent SSSE 2014 in Edinburgh.
We asked our workshop group to get creative with imaginary towns, lego services and real facilitators. 
We had great turnout (possibly too many!) and everyone engaged with the task really well. We just wished we had more time to explore some of the concepts in more depth.
A big thanks to our facilitators: Robert, Christine, John and Bill, who came from the Voice of Experience Forum and Grey Matters, two excellent representative groups for older people in Scotland. They were able to bring their experiences, and the experiences of people they know, to the table and really respond to the setting. They were highly praised in the feedback!
We managed to capture some feedback and comments throughout the session:
“Fantastic, creative, great fun, working together!”
“As a health care professional, I was initially reluctant but it was helpful to have a person as facilitator who could give lived experience”
“The use of the facilitators was great and a really fun interactive session. Thanks!”
Here’s some of the comments we overheard during the session itself :
“Let’s have children involved- why can’t they come into care homes too?”
“I don’t want to have to fit into things -this town has to fit me!” – Facilitator
“The issue isn’t the service, it’s the access”
“We need to think about the full journey”
“Staff need to get to know the couple, together, even if they only see one of them at the end of their journey” – Facilitator
“We know all the problems – now we need to know the solutions” – Facilitator
“First question is: What would you change (directed at facilitator?)”
“We need to think about the full journey”
“How do we use the elements we already have?”
“I don’t want to have to fit into things -this town has to fit me!” – Facilitator
“We know all the problems – now we need to know the solutions” – Facilitator
“Staff need to get to know the couple, together, even if they only see one of them at the end of their journey” – Facilitator
The feedback also said that:
People felt they needed more time in the task to really get into the details, and we agree! If we run another of these sessions, we’ll give it much more time!
At the end of the session, we asked each group to feedback on what they had learned. The lessons were really telling of how important the role of the facilitators were.
- Listen to people themselves- they know the answers
- Intergenerational support is important
- Cooperation between people and planners
- Listening to people – letting them lead
If you came along – thank you very much! If you would be interested in exploring this idea further or using our materials, please be in touch!