Engaging children and young people - examples of engagement excellence

Listen directly to young people talking about topics that matter to them in these youth--led podcasts.

Our voices: engagement done well (audio with transcript)

Our voices: climate change (audio with transcript)

A young person's experience of living with epilepsy (audio with transcript)

A youth MDT on youth friendly spaces, mental health, identity and transition (video)

This is an excellent example of a community research collaboration between Birmingham Women's and Children's hospital and the pupils of Handsworth Grammar school. Paediatricians and educators co-produced research into a health issue chosen by secondary school-aged young people. The project was supported by Mr Nathan Duck (school teacher at Handsworth), CANAL, Powering Up & the Ladywood and Perry Barr Locality partnership.

Dr Lisa van Geyzel & Dr Mary Salama, Birmingham Women's & Children's NHS Foundation Trust share their experience:

It was refreshing to be able to get out of the old Victorian building that is our Children's Hospital and to meet up with young people in their schools; to hear them share about their experiences of navigating the NHS with their families and the challenges that the communities around them face. It was important to listen and not dismiss ideas which might have initially seemed naive, but instead delve deeper into their thoughts behind the ideas and work together to come up with some pragmatic solutions. This group surprised us with the topic they chose to research, because it was so far from our radars of what is happening in the world of teenagers. We returned on a second visit to listen to the results of their research, give feedback and advice on how they might want to present it in front of all the other schools in the hospital's auditorium. Their enthusiasm, energy and bravery in stepping up to later present at the RCPCH Conference brought such satisfaction, knowing that we had helped empower them to share their views and ideas much further than they might have envisioned at the start.

Palms sweating. Hands trembling. “Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Today our group will be delving into a pressing healthcare issue”. The presentation had begun. The five of us stood on the big stage at the RCPCH 24 Conference – facing a theatre full of health care professionals – each taking turns to present the findings of the research project we had conducted. Despite the initial nerves, our voices grew stronger with each word. By the end, the applause was overwhelming and just like that a torrent of relief and pride had washed over us.
This all started back in January 2024 when Mr Duck (School Teacher & Work-experience coordinator), reached out with an offer regarding a Community Research Project. We were given a debrief of the project with an introductory presentation on how to carry out Community Research. At the time, we did not see this going any further than a local project at school.

A couple of Consultant Paediatricians then came to our school to discuss our views on health and the challenges Young people face in keeping healthy. They invited us and students from other schools to present the findings of our research study to a wider audience, which included representatives from Public Health at Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Our presentation was well-received and we were introduced to Dr Guddi Singh, lead for the Powering Up project.1 It was through that connection, the encouragement of the Paediatricians & the support of Mr Duck, that led to us standing on that big stage at the Birmingham ICC. 

As teenagers living in a social media- dominated era, gym life has become increasingly prevalent and significant in our lives. In what seems like a positive lifestyle choice, lurks a menace, threatening to grow out of control with insufficient education; Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED). So, when Mr Duck offered this project, it was an opportunity to explore & highlight the danger of PED, to protect the impressionable younger generation and to leave a long-standing legacy safeguarding all teenagers to come.

As part of the younger demographic, we think it is vital for young people to get involved in research projects about healthcare. Why? Because there’s been a surge in the proportion of young people learning about healthcare related topics through social media. Our surveys revealed almost 90% of young people learnt about Performance Enhancing Drugs via the internet. Alarming, right? For us, this finding was incredibly concerning due to the omnipresence of unrealistic societal expectations spread across social media, potentially directing young people to abuse these substances in order to meet warped body standards. This potential issue is not exclusive to PEDs but also extends to other healthcare related ‘trends’, including mental health misconceptions, vaccination misinformation, poor sleep hygiene etc.

So, by getting involved in research projects (like ours) young people can bridge the gap between credible healthcare information and their peers. They hold the power to make a difference. Empowering others to make more healthy and informed choices.
 

We're supporting children and young people to stay healthy, happy and well to create a healthy future. Our activities pack and how-to guides help young people think critically about health information, research conditions in their local area and work together to improve outcomes for others.

See Youth Social Action page for more detail and downloadable resources

This is a group of epilepsy experienced or interested children, young people and families who volunteer together to improve care for epilepsy patients and their families. You can read about their award-winning project, the Clinic Chat Check List, and their experiences and tips on developing a school care plan.

See the Epilepsy12 page for more details and downloadable resources

We are on a mission to improve asthma care and services for children and young people.

We joined together from all over the UK - some of us are personally affected by asthma and others affected through people they know. We've collected voice from children, young people and families in their clinics across the country and hope we can represent their voice in different settings and have the support of others to take action and implement the changes they say are needed.

It's every child’s right, article 24 of the United Nations on the Rights of the Child, to have the best possible health care and with your help we can achieve this.

In 2021 we were really proud to be part of the award winning team of volunteers who were given the HQIP Richard Driscoll Memorial Award for patient and public involvement.

We worked with NACAP to create new patient leaflets (which you can download from our web page) to help patients and families to know what happens when you go to A&E with an asthma attack, how to stay healthy, happy and well as well as hints and tips for asthma care. There are three leaflets depending on your age - and some have games and activities in them!

We are a group of young people with an interest in climate change who meet regularly to turn ideas into action.

Find out how this project gives children and young people across the UK the chance to tell us what they think about climate change and how we share that insight with doctors.

Inspired by the NHS Rainbow Badge Initiative, a group of young people contributed their views, ideas and recommendations for creating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT+)-aware and -accessible health services.

See the Rainbow Health Youth Supporters page for more details and downloadable resources