Last night saw the curtains open on thinkpublic’s first film night showcasing how we are using the film to drive change within public sector organisations. Hailed as great success by all in attendance, the event showed two insightful thought provoking pieces. It invited the audience to share in a discussion on how civil servants can improve upon service through a deeper understanding of their users and their respective context. thinkpublic founder Deborah Szebeko, introduced the films and explained the benefits of introducing frontline public sector workers to service design processes. Produced for the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, ‘Just a Minor Operation’ told the story of the death of Jem Abbotts following a routine operation. The film has been distributed to a wide range of medical practitioners raising awareness of sepsis and issues of patient safety and ‘end of life’ dignity. Jem’s wife Karen, the focus of the emotive piece, told the story of the days leading up to her husband’s death, providing the viewer with a moving personal account of patient experience. By exposing clinical staff to often overlooked details in the service delivery, the film aims to encourage cultural change within hospitals. Julia Schaeper of the NHS Institute, spoke afterwards about the impact the film has made within her organisation and how by combining this media alongside training and improvement programmes, cultural change can be encouraged from the ground up.
The second piece, ‘Lewisham Customer Experiences’ focusing on improving service delivery within the London borough’s Housing Options services. The footage was shot by frontline staff who had been trained by thinkpublic in interviewing techniques and capturing insights. Lewisham staff recorded over 20 customer journeys from ‘the other side of the counter’, capturing the direct experiences of the service. Following the engaging film, Head of Media Ivo Gormley explained the advantage of equipping staff with these skills and involving them in a co-design process, and ethnographer Jess O’Keeffe further elaborated on the strength of fostering empathy between staff and service users. According to Lewisham’s Head of Strategy, Peter Gadsdon, the pioneering film has been a crucial part of significant cultural change within the service. He explained how the piece provided a backdrop for and idea generation session among staff, leading to some exciting improvements which are now been prototyped within the borough. The audience agreed that film had an enormous capacity to communicate the reality of services to frontline staff and a welcome alternative to long uninspiring written reports.