Delivering primary care on the British waterways: exploring the health priorities and challenges of liveaboard boaters

Liveaboard boaters is a term used to describe people who live full-time on a canal boat. Liveaboard boaters are under-represented in health research but share similar health inequalities to other traveler groups, such as Roma, who have featured more prominently in contemporary research. To understand health challenges faced by liveaboard boaters and their priorities for research, we need to talk to members of the community. This project will facilitate this engagement through hosting network events at locations where liveaboard boaters meet.  

The main aims are to identify their health priorities in relation to primary care provision and to establish a liveaboard boater research network involving Keele staff, stakeholders and members of the community. To do this we have five main objectives:  

1. Find out what the main healthcare challenges are for liveaboard boaters when needing primary care services.  

2. Agree what areas of primary care are the most important to research in the future.  

3. Identify who should be part of a liveaboard boater research network.  

4. Agree the aims of a liveaboard boater research network and identify ways of working together.  

5. Evaluate what the project team and the liveaboard boaters learned from taking part in the activities.  

Events will be held in different locations on the West and East Midlands, North West, and North Wales Canal Networks. These will be at national events (e.g. folk and boat festivals) and social meeting places (e.g. chandlers, major canal junctions). We will also approach those that conduct business from their boats (e.g. arts, fuel delivery).   

A selection of methods will be used to support flexibility, inclusion, and exploration through different activities. These will include the use of spidergrams, timelines, ranking options, mapping and conversations. Spidergrams allow people to write or draw anything they wish about a topic. Similarly, timelines will allow people to comment or draw about the topic, considering the past, future, or the amounts of time involved in activities, such as travelling to a GP Practice. Mapping will allow exploration into the challenges of location (where the boat is moored) and resources (e.g. GP Practices). Ranking options will be used to find out their priorities related to primary care services, research priorities, and if and how they would like to engage with the university team in the future. Conversations will help us to explore in greater detail liveaboard boater experiences and what they feel are the most important issues in accessing primary care. The project team will record these by writing detailed notes. The range of activities will allow boaters to provide data anonymously but could also encourage them to start talking with a project team member.   

Proposed timelines:   

Preparation – Pre-grant and up to December 2024  

Outreach events – January to August 2025 (include winter when some liveaboard boaters will be moored in designated place and summer when more events take place.  

Evaluation and blog for SPCR website will be ongoing throughout the project – January to October 2025.   

Dissemination, report to SPCR and blog – September/October 2025