Digital Stories

Digital stories are a powerful means of allowing the voices of the people who use services and their carers to be heard. They are told in the storyteller's own words and voice, combined with still images and music.

An opportunity arose in autumn 2007 to link the UDSET work with the digital stories project funded by the Big Lottery, and a small selection of stories can be viewed through the Digital Story Library.

Talking Points: A Personal Outcomes Approach Story Collection

Back to the Future: The UDSET Digital Story Collection was put together to help support implementation of the UDSET and, more generally, the move towards an outcomes-focused approach to assessment and review.

The collection features stories told by health and social care professionals, service users and carers. Some of the stories highlight the importance of outcomes in the lives of people who use services and their carers. Some stories illustrate the differences that the outcomes-focused approach can make to individual lives and the specific aspects of the Talking Points approach that service users, carers and staff have found the most valuable. Others address some of the challenges typically encountered in making the shift to an outcomes-focused approach.

The stories can be used to stimulate discussion around a range of topics including:

  • Understanding the outcomes agenda
  • Resource implications
  • Partnership working
  • Effective communication
  • The value of the carers assessment
  • Service redesign

The collection is avialable to all partnerships on DVD. To obtain a copy please Contact Us

The Digital Storytelling in Health and Social Care Project

The Talking Points collection is just one of several story collections created by the Digital Storytelling in Health and Social Care Project. Others include:

  • Whose Care, Whose Lives? Perceptions of care in various environments
  • What's it all About? Intermediate Care experiences
  • Living at Home with Dementia. The Richmond Fellowship collection
  • Challenging Assumptions. Stories of life before and after dementia
  • Something in Common. Integrated day care service stories
  • Long-term Conditions and Mental Health Collaboratives. Launch Event
  • Self-Management. LTCAS Launch Event

Story collections currently in development include:

  • Safety First? Telecare stories
  • Getting it Right for Carers. Sharing best practice (Carers Coalition)

The stories have been screened at several national conferences and have found applications within local education contexts. A secure story library is currently being developed to allow health and social care staff and voluntary sector workers to search for and download digital stories for local use.