Blogs

Our blogs highlight the voices of people working across the health and social care sector, talking about a range of timely issues.

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- 13 November 2025
The journey home: Insights into people’s experiences of hospital discharge and follow-up care
Louis Horsley
Louis Horsley, National Voices’ Research and Insight Manager, shares new research commissioned by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the State of Care 2024/25 report, exploring people’s experiences of follow-up care after hospital discharge.
- Communication and administration
- Health inequalities
- Lived experience
- 10 November 2025
Working together to develop better patient information for clinical trials: the MAPLE project
Vikki Wylde, Catherine Jameson, Emma Johnson and Kirsty Roberts
How can research trials better reflect the diversity of our communities? Researchers from the University of Bristol, share how they co-produced a new, inclusive patient information leaflet template to make research participation uncomplicated, and more accessible to everyone.
- Our work increasing diversity in clinical trials
- Health inequalities
- Lived experience
- 16 October 2025
The power of lived experience, and a farewell to National Voices
Sharon Brennan, Director of Policy and External Affairs at National Voices
Sharon Brennan, our Director of Policy and External Affairs, reflects on her last few years at National Voices, the impact of embedding lived experience in policy influencing, and wins she’s pioneered during her tenure.
- 15 October 2025
Tackling poverty at the end of life
Jamie Thunder, Senior Policy Manager - Financial Security at Marie Curie
To mark Challenge Poverty Week, Jamie Thunder, Senior Policy Manager at Marie Curie, reflects on how poverty shapes people’s final months and highlights the action and support needed to end financial hardship at the end of life.
- 8 October 2025
Ready Steady GoVo! New volunteering platform seeks to reach the 6 in 10 UK adults not currently volunteering
Gethyn Williams, GoVo Help Team Member at Royal Voluntary Service
Gethyn Williams introduces GoVo, a new national volunteering platform designed to make finding and offering volunteering opportunities simpler, more flexible, and inclusive.
- 1 October 2025
LGBTIQ+ cancer care: how far have we come?
OUTpatients, The UK's LGBTIQ+ Cancer Charity
In this blog, OUTpatients explores progress in LGBTIQ+ cancer care, from screening access to specialist guidance, and discusses what still needs to be done to achieve equity.
- Health inequalities
- 22 September 2025
From individual stories to collaborative system change: Reflecting on my time at National Voices
Lucy Seymour, Senior Policy and External Affairs Officer at National Voices
In her farewell blog, our Senior Policy and External Affairs Officer, Lucy Seymour, reflects on three and a half years at National Voices, exploring how collaboration can turn individual stories into lasting system change.
- 13 August 2025
Information about assisted dying: how do we meet people’s needs and why the third sector should lead the way
Jemma Woodley, Information and Policy Officer at Compassion in Dying
As assisted dying laws are being debated in Parliaments across the UK and the Crown Dependencies, Compassion in Dying asked the people they support what information and support they need to understand the law and have conversations with healthcare professionals about assisted dying.
- 1 August 2025
Advancing racial health equity – the Prostate Cancer UK experience
Chiara De Biase, Director of Health Services, Equity and Improvement at Prostate Cancer UK
Chiara De Biase, Director of Health Services, Equity and Improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, shares how Prostate Cancer UK has invested into advancing racial health equity, and the work that still needs to be done.
- Health inequalities
- 16 July 2025
The Accessible Information Standard: Towards mandatory equality in practice
Lucy Seymour, Senior Policy and External Affairs Officer at National Voices
The refreshed Accessible Information Standard recognises that real health equity begins with accessible, understandable information and effective communication across NHS services. For many, equitable access has long been a promise; this update is a vital step towards making it a common practice.
- Accessible and inclusive communication within primary care
- Health inequalities