Healthwatch Oxfordshire, the county’s independent health and social care watchdog, working with homeless patients has produced a video explaining how one patient participation group (PPG) works to help homeless people in Oxford.

‘Patient Voices…Our Story’ looks at the work of the PPG of Luther Street Medical Centre, Oxford, a GP surgery which specialises in offering primary care to homeless people. The four-minute film includes interviews with patients and staff at the practice, who describe how working with the PPG has brought improvements for people using the surgery.

The video, shot by experienced filmmaker Nicola Josse, was made with a grant to Healthwatch Oxfordshire from NHS England under its Celebrating Excellence in Community Participation grant scheme. It will now be shared widely across a wide range of channels, including social media, healthcare providers’ websites and partner organisations.

Rosalind Pearce, Executive Director of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, said:

“This film tells a powerful story of a partnership between patients who are homeless and their GP surgery working together to improve the services offered to homeless people in Oxford. 

“Healthwatch Oxfordshire are proud to have supported the PPG in the early days.  What has been achieved over the past four years at Luther Street is a credit to both the patients and staff.  I believe that other surgeries and PPGs in the county and across the country will be inspired by this film.”

Stuart Bell CBE, Chief Executive of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Luther Street staff are outstanding in the care they give according to the people who inspect our services. One of the important ways they achieve that is by really listening and responding to the people they care for. We’re grateful to the patients, patient participation group members, staff and to Healthwatch for highlighting this. Care is something we all do together.”

You can view the video at https://youtu.be/3ZLJ_G-3QMw