Throughout the project we worked with a lot of people in Merseyside to develop materials that are useful. We discussed the project with people from different community groups from young people in the Princes Trust employability and welfare programme run by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to military veterans attending groups run by Everton in The Community and Liverpool FC Foundation. We spoke to over 700 people! It was important that the voices of dental patients were properly represented within the project, and we worked hard to make sure as many voices as possible were heard. The project was also guided by a group of patient and public representatives.

In addition, we worked closely with a group of 9 local people over a two-year period who designed the material with us (pictured above) – they formed a community advisory group. They contributed their own photographs to illustrate their experiences and thoughts about visiting the dentist, and curated a photographic exhibition at the University of Liverpool in February 2020

The Photo Exhibition

The community advisory group shared their photo stories with different stakeholders such a dental practitioners and people working in public health, both locally and across England.

Read about this further under the Sharing our Work tab

Some of the community advisory group members also made videos which were used as part of the RETURN intervention. The videos were an important part of the intervention, and many people in the trial described them as being impactful.

“Do you know what, I thought you could relate to it massively, like the anxiety of how he felt going to the dentist, and obviously the experience of actually having a good dentist would relax you a lot more. It was actually, you could put yourself in that kind of position and you’d be like, yeah, I understand that completely” Quotation from a RETURN trial participant

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we kept in touch online, and for many people (including our team!), it was their first time using technology in this way.

Recognition for our work with local communities

Our project has been recognised on several occasions for the work we did with members of the public and patients.

• Health and Life Sciences Public Engagement Award, 2024 – Commended. View a poster summary of that work here
• University of Liverpool Staff Awards for outstanding contribution to public engagement 2022 – Finalist
• Northwest Coast Research and Innovation Awards for outstanding contribution to patient and public involvement, 2021 – Finalist
• Tate Exchange Liverpool, 2020 – Knowledge Exchange proposal selected to showcase (unfortunately did not go ahead due to Covid-19)
• Health and Life Sciences Public Engagement Award, 2019 – Winner