Kent Coast Volunteering (KCV), along with The Folkestone Nepalese Community and Folkestone & Hythe District Council, celebrated at The Healthwatch Recognition Awards

KCV’s Digital Champions Project has been celebrated at a prestigious award ceremony on Wednesday 30th March 2022 for its work to help members of the Nepalese Community in Folkestone to get online, build confidence and improve digital skills.   

Kent Coast Volunteering was recognised under the Innovation and Excellence category in the Healthwatch Recognition Awards, organised by both Healthwatch Kent & Healthwatch Medway.

This event – in its first year – celebrated the best in health & social care in Kent & Medway. 200 guests came together to recognise the achievements and hear ideas that they can use in their own work.

How did the project work?

With development funding from EK360, Kent Coast Volunteering recruited volunteer ‘Digital Champions’ to support the learners. These champions included volunteers from the Nepalese Community, and together they promoted friendships and inter-generational connections as well as helped avoid any language or cultural barriers.

Thanks to additional funding from The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and Kent Community Foundation, the project has become a key part of the new Folkestone Nepalese Community Centre in Cheriton, which opened in October 2020, complete with a digital training room for the community to use. The volunteer Digital Champions have themselves attended online safeguarding and ‘Keeping People Safe’ training, which includes ensuring computers are up to date with software, anti-virus, and a firewall. The learners now report being able to:

  • Access health & social care services online
  • Book Covid vaccinations
  • Connect with friends and family online, to feel less lonely and isolated
  • Shop online, and help other people in the Nepalese Community to do the same

Talking about the award, Healthwatch Kent’s Robbie Goatham said, “We work with every single health and social care organisation in Kent to ensure that they are hearing your stories and using your experiences to improve their services. This bird’s eye view means that we see what’s working well, and what needs improving. Our Healthwatch Recognition Awards have given us the opportunity to take a moment to recognise and celebrate the best on health & social care in Kent/Medway. Congratulations to everyone who has been recognised.”

Left to right: Kerry Smith – Kent Coast Volunteering, Chandra Gurung – Folkestone Nepalese Community & Alexandra Sansom – Folkestone & Hythe District Council

About Healthwatch Kent & Healthwatch Medway

Healthwatch Kent and Healthwatch Medway are both independent organisations set up to champion the views of patients and social care users across Kent & Medway. They work to help local people get the best out of their local health and social care services. Whether it’s improving them today or helping to shape them for tomorrow.

Call Healthwatch Kent on 0808 801 0102 or email info@healthwatchkent.co.uk

Kent Coast Volunteering