Qualitative research 

Shared Purpose worked with NAVCA to facilitate the co-design of policy positions on key health issues, ensuring the voice of civil society infrastructure organisations was heard at national level. By combining rigorous qualitative research with careful stakeholder engagement, we enabled NAVCA to influence NHS England on the roll-out of social prescribing and other priorities, while equipping local members with evidence to advocate more effectively in their own areas. 

NAVCA was funded to help national policymakers understand how health policy changes were affecting the VCSE sector. The issues included: 

• the rapid roll-out of social prescribing and its impact on local organisations 

• how health inequalities affect rural and coastal communities 

• the usefulness of NHS England’s new framework for community-centred public health. 

The challenge was to capture honest views from NAVCA’s members — including concerns and unintended consequences — while ensuring messages were delivered tactfully and landed well with NHS England and Public Health England, so that recommendations would lead to genuine change. 

Our task was to generate credible evidence, shaped with NAVCA members, that could both influence national policymakers and support local negotiations with commissioners. 

We facilitated a collaborative policy-making process: 

• designed key research questions in consultation with NHS England and Public Health England colleagues 

• engaged NAVCA members through 1:1 interviews and workshops, capturing their experiences and perspectives 

• drafted reports and iterated them through rounds of sense-checks with both members and public sector stakeholders 

• published three reports: The role of local infrastructure in social prescribing; Health inequalities in rural and coastal areas; and Community-centred approaches to health improvement. 

Throughout, we worked closely with allies inside NHS England, testing how messages might land and refining language to maximise impact without losing authenticity.