RAN's Eleventh Forum

“Delivering advice from home, online and by phone - advantages, disadvantages and issues”

The Eleventh RAN Advice Forum was an online Zoom video meeting, primarily to discuss how the delivery of information, advice and guidance had had to change since March 2020, effectively the start of the pandemic and the closure of face-to-face access to RAN's member's services.

The Forum also considered what the balance might be for the future of delivery of such services, split between office and home working, and between face-to-face, phone and online service delivery once the pandemic was over.

There was excellent attendance at the Forum, including from outside Reading (and thus more than RAN members). Two member organisations presented on the themes of coping with the rapid closure of face-to-face services and planning for the future delivery.

RAN have produced a summary report of the meeting, available to download here.

As a further consequence of the changed delivery of information, advice and guidance by RAN's member organisations caused by the pandemic, RAN's trustees had been discussing how to ensure the RAN Quality Standard was effective in measuring and assessing online and home-based delivery of services. The outcomes of this Forum and conclusions touched on in the Report, have now enabled the creation of Version 3 of the RAN Quality Standard which includes assessment of remotely-delivered services.