Community Engagement Vehicle (CEV)

Mountbatten Hampshire serves around 600,000 people, across Southampton and large parts of Hampshire. This includes a densely populated, culturally diverse city and some less-populated rural areas. There are areas of wealth and deprivation.

Data shows that it is challenging for some Hampshire residents to access hospice care. There has been a perception that the hospice is only for the wealthy and that it only provides end-of-life care.

The Community Engagement Vehicle - known as CEV - is a converted 17-seater minibus. It has a kitchen, sofas and a table, as well as wheelchair access. It is fully stocked with leaflets and posters, and even has a TV screen that can display up-to-date messages about the charity’s wide-ranging services.

CEV visits four locations on a regular basis (once or twice a month, depending on their location). These community engagement sessions are led by Sarah Hazell-Ravel, Mountbatten’s volunteer co-ordinator, who is supported by a member of clinical staff and/or a volunteer bereavement counsellor. 

Over 2,000 people have interacted with CEV in the nine months since the project hit the road.

For Mountbatten Hampshire this has meant:

Key facilitators

Mountbatten Hampshire was successful in applying for a grant from the Masonic Charitable Foundation via Hospice UK, which enabled them to purchase the Community Engagement Vehicle (CEV).

The hospice set up a task and finish group, to help ensure CEV was effectively implemented and mobilised.

CEV has multiple uses. When not being used for community engagement activities, it is also used for fundraising and events. It can even provide a mobile office, for example when the volunteer co-ordinator visits retail managers across the local area.

CEV is comfortable and welcoming, which is partly due to its fantastic team. It is suitable for all weathers (it is very popular in the rain when people want somewhere to shelter and drink a cup of tea!).

Challenges

Mountbatten Hampshire’s community team needed to get to know the area really well, before they could even purchase vehicle. During the first year of the project, Sarah Hazell-Ravel drove to different areas and walked around, to find parish halls, churches and other organisations. She struck up conversations, asking if projects and managers could display leaflets about the hospice. Without this hard work, the hospice could never have developed its current list of drop-in locations.

Purchasing a large vehicle was new to the hospice, and there were lots of factors to be considered. For example, drivers need different licences for heavier vehicles. Not all staff feel comfortable driving the minibus.

It took considerable time and staff resource to get the minibus converted, which all had to be done on top of business as usual.

Some residents were reluctant to engage at first, as they did not want to talk about death and dying. However the team has overcome this, with perseverance and a friendly approach. There is now much more awareness of what the hospice does.

Mountbatten Hampshire is working collaboratively to integrate CEV with other local services such as social prescribers, the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and Age UK. They are hoping to create a comprehensive “one-stop-shop” where community members can access a wide range of support services, all on the same day and at the same venue.

For example, All Saints Church is one of the venues regularly visited by CEV. Working with the church, Mountbatten Hampshire is planning to schedule a visit from CEV at the same time as visits from the local social prescriber and the community food pantry.

This approach will significantly benefit the community and enable people to get the support they need more efficiently and effectively.