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Options UK provides fresh, innovative and practical advice, support and evidence-informed solutions to a range of service providers, policy makers and commissioners within the health and social sectors in the UK
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Options UK was launched in 2006 and has rapidly become one of the UK’s foremost providers of needs assessments which help organisations identify 'the big picture' in terms of the health and wellbeing needs and inequalities in their local population. Historically our strengths lie in sexual and reproductive health and HIV. While these critical areas remain at the heart of the organisation, our work has expanded to encompass Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) in other areas of health and social care, such as maternity and children with complex needs.
We have worked in most regions of England including Central London, East Sussex, Portsmouth, Wakefield, Teeside, Gateshead, Wolverhampton, Medway, Eastern and Coastal Kent, Staffordshire, Hampshire and Herefordshire.
Options UK also specialises in understanding health and social care issues in hard to reach, vulnerable or marginalised groups. We have recently conducted rapid ethnographic assessments with North African women in Westminster exploring issues around Female Genital Mutilation, and asylum seekers in south Wales looking at coping with destitution. The results are designed to feed directly into the design of services, communications, and social marketing campaigns, ensuring they are relevant and accessible to target populations.
As specialists in patient, service user and public involvement, other hard to reach, vulnerable or marginalised groups that we have successfully engaged with include
- BME communities (including Bangladeshi, Somali, Congolese)
- Asylum seekers and refugees
- Gypsies and travellers
- Children with complex needs and their carers
- Prisoners
- People with learning difficulties
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender (LGBT) communities
- Sex workers (male and female)
- Young people
- Homeless
- People with problems with substance mis-use
- Victims of domestic violence
- Young offenders
Options UK is the UK programme of Options Consultancy Services Ltd, a leading international provider of technical expertise, short-term consultancy and long-term management services in the health and the social sectors. Established in 1992 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Marie Stopes International, Options has evolved into a dynamic organisation with a broad portfolio of work that includes over 700 assignments in 50 countries. Options works with a wide range of clients that includes donors, national governments, the private sector, academic institutions, and civil society. |
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