Healthwatch Harriet wins runner-up in Haelo Film Festival 2017

We are delighted to announce that our Healthwatch Harriet film on “What on earth is a Vanguard?” has won runner-up in the Innovative Film category in the Haelo Film Festival 2017.

The Haelo Film Festival showcases the outstanding and original public sector films from across the UK. The judging took place during the evening of 16th November, live on Twitter!  Joining us in the Innovative Category shortlist, were Rape Crisis Scotland and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who won with their “24 hours in maternity care” film.

The concept behind Healthwatch Harriet is very simple – if you can explain it to a 10-year-old, you can explain it to anyone. Given the amount of jargon used within the NHS we literally put this to the test by having 10-year-old Harriet Blythe interview health bosses.

Her first foray into interviewing saw her ask questions of the health chiefs charged with making the North East Essex and Suffolk Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) a success. The resulting film caused a sensation with over 4,000 people having watched it over the six months it has been live on our YouTube channel.

We were then asked to make a similar film by NHS England, all about their Vanguards programme. Harriet again was confronted by real heavy-hitters in the world of health and had them explain to her what Vanguards were and how New Care Models were making a difference.

Not only does the need to simplify language help everyone understand what might otherwise be tricky issues to communicate, but it makes those charged with making these big change programmes happen really drill down to the essence of what they are trying to achieve, why that’s important and how that might be possible.