Community Conversations 

Tackling Health Inequalities in the Borough of Richmond

Although Richmond is a relatively affluent borough there are still significant areas of deprivation, where people’s socio-economic circumstances impact on both their life expectancy and their healthy life expectancy. Over the last year Ruils has been working in some of these areas, hosting health and wellbeing fairs and attending local community groups. While attendance has been good, we knew that there was more we could do to reach people in the local community who aren't engaging with services. 

The aim of the Community Conversations project was to systematically target households in Richmond Borough and, through guided conversations with individuals in their own homes, gather more information about what matters to them, what health and wellbeing activities they access and what they would like to change. 

“As local service providers, all too often we expect isolated residents to come to us. This project took advice and information out in to the community. Targeting the people who need it most. By actively engaging on the doorstep, we not only learnt more about our residents and their needs, but were able to share important information making a real difference to local people”. - Cathy Maker, CEO

Between March and May of 2023 our team went door to door and spoke to 669 residents across Richmond Borough. They also delivered 8000 "Sorry we missed you" postcards to those who weren't in with information on how to share their views and experiences. 

In addition to getting valuable data and giving residents information about local services, we also supported 116 people who requested a follow-up from the Ruils Social Prescribing team. 

"Our Social Prescribing Team has a vast knowledge of community assets, and through this project we were able to share this with local residents who may not have known of our offer, or what was available locally.” - Callum Harvey, Social Prescribing and Community Development Manager

There were many insights drawn from the data collection methods and the data itself that highlighted areas for future engagement with Richmond residents.

For a more detailed breakdown of the work undertaken and data collected, download the report. 

Click here to download the report

The Community Conversations team out and about.

The Community Conversations team at the Core 20 event in Hampton. event.