What's an online focus group?
This is a method that Healthwatch Darlington uses to talk with people who use health and care services. It allows us to listen to their feedback, views, and experiences and helps us to speak out on their behalf to organisations that buy or provide services in Darlington
We aim to bring together a diverse group of people from the local community and we focus on one specific health or care topic at each session.
Where do they take place?
A focus group can take place either face-to-face at an appropriate venue or can be conducted online. Due to the Covid pandemic we do not hold meetings face to face at the moment.
For the online focus groups, we use video software called Zoom. You will need access to the internet and either a computer, laptop, tablet, or a mobile phone.
You don't need a Zoom account to use Zoom, as long as you're just looking to join meetings. We will send you a link with the joining details in advance of the focus group starting.
Further information on how to use Zoom can be found here.
How do they work?
Focus groups are conducted in a safe space and anything shared is treated as anonymous and held in the strictest of confidence, and we do not hold any personal details of those who attend. We will discuss this further before we start the session.
You will be greeted by the facilitator before the session, and this is the person who will take the lead. The role of the facilitator is to ask questions and to guide conversations, ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to have their views heard.
The facilitator will be joined by another person called the scriber who is there to capture the key points from the discussions.
We will send you information before the session outlining the points we will be discussing and to give you an opportunity to consider the subject that will be discussed. You do not have to prepare anything in advance, but we ask that you are open, honest and respectful of other people’s views during the session.
What happens after a focus group and how does sharing your views help?
Our approach is that people's views come first, especially those who find it hardest to be heard.
We champion what matters to you and work with others to find ideas that work. We are independent and committed to making the biggest difference to you.
After the focus group all information/feedback you share is stored on a secure system and the comments are used within our reports.
We tell providers what you think about their service, and we also tell the people who pay for your services what you think about them, and what your experiences were.
We pass on our findings to the Care Quality Commission and Healthwatch England.
Where possible, we will let you know when changes are planned to services in our community and help you have a say. We will also encourage those in charge of local care to involve you when changes are being planned to services.
