Contact Us
Voluntary Sector North West
St. Thomas Centre
Manchester
M12 6FZ
Tel: 0161 276 9300
Fax: 0161 276 9301
Email: info@vsnw.org.uk
Health and Social Care
NEWS
North West Mental Wellbeing Survey
A major new survey of 18,500 residents in the North West has been published. The survey was carried out in response to a need to understand more about positive mental health and wellbeing. Carried out as a collaborative partnership between local authorities, PCT's, and led by NHS NW, it is seen as informing future policy and practice in the North West. Read the VSNW Briefing or download the Summary Report.
Marmot and the Third Sector: Addressing Health Inequalities Together - 9th March 2010 - London
This important Conference organised by the Dept of Health's Strategic Partners* will give you the opportuity to hear more about the strategic review that Professor Sir Michael Marmot was asked to lead to develop a joint approach to tackling health inequalities. It will provide a unique opportunity to consider the essential roleof third sector organisations in addressing the problems. Speakers include Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Gillian Merron MP, MInister of State for Public Health and Mike Farrer, Chief Executive of NHS NW.
During the day you will have the chance to discuss with colleagues from across the sector some of the specific challenges we face and how the Marmot Report can help your organisation’s work. You will have the opportunity to learn from the keynote speakers as well as having the chance to attend two interactive workshops during the day to discuss issues in depth.
*The Strategic Partners are a wide ranging group of third sector organisations working with the Department of Health to strengthen links between it and the sector. VSNW is a Strategic Partner through its role in Regional Voices.
For more information and to book a place: Regional Voices website .
Health Bulletin 9
The Marmot Review will be publishing its final report in two weeks time. Marmot identifies health inequalities as being socially determined – those who are the worst off economically and socially are more likely to have poorer health. Currently the latest draft of the North West single regional strategy – RS2010 – is out for consultation. One of its themes is ‘Release the potential of our people and tackle poverty’. There is recognition within this theme that a healthy society is more likely to be an economically prosperous one and that with improved standards of health care there will not only be a healthier population but decreased levels of worklessness. The Draft Strategy can be downloaded from www.nwregionalstrategy.com. VSNW with partners in the region are holding a series of third sector consultations and if you would like to attend visit: http://www.vsnw.org.uk/events/view/52 . The consultation closes on 26th February 2010.
The latest bulletin includes information on the following:
• NHS Operating Framework
• Joint Strategic Needs Assessment – Third Sector Engagement
• Conservative Draft Health Manifesto
• NMDS Skills for Care Briefing
• Volunteering in Health and Social Care Fund Information Events
• Adult Learners Week Awards
• New Certification Scheme for Health and Social Care Information
• North West Mental Wellbeing Survey
• Swine Flu Update
Health Bulletin 8
This edition includes:
• Update
• Personal Health Budgets: NW Pilot Sites and Programme
• NHS 2010–2015: from good to great, preventative, people-centred, productive
• NHS as the Preferred Provider – a Dept. of Health Clarification
• Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund
• Age Equality in Health and Social Care Consultation Events
• PCT Grant Making Powers
• Swine Flu Update for Third Sector Organisations
• PSA16 in the North West
• Events
Personal Health Budgets: Pilot Sites and Programme
The Dept of Health have announced the Personal Health Budgets Pilot Porgamme Sites. Eleven PCT areas and two teaching trusts have been chosen in the North West: Ashton, Leigh and Wigan, Blackburn with Darwen, Central and Eastern Cheshire; Cumbria Teaching; East Lancashire Teaching, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, Manchester, Merseyside – Sefton, Knowsley and Liverpool, Oldham, Warrington, Western Cheshire. For more details of the scope of the work they will be targeting read the PIlot Sites document.
PCT Grant Making Powers to Commission Long Term Conditions Self Care Support from Third Sector Organisations
The Dept of Health have produced a paper highlighting the role grants can play in developing and supporting low level community activity. The paper states that the use of grants is particularly pertinent to commissioning self care support for people with long term conditions. The paper goes on to say Third Sector organisations will have an increasingly important role to play in meeting some of the expected increase in demand for self care support. Read the full Paper
Social Enterprise Investment Fund for Health and Social Care
Social Investment Business and the Department of Health have unveiled eight investment programmes aimed at social enterprises working in the health and social care sector. The funds, which offer a range of grants or loans of up to £10m, are available under the department's Social Enterprise Investment Fund (SEIF), which is managed by the Social Investment Business, the organisation formerly known as Futurebuilders England.
The funds are generally aimed at helping social enterprises develop innovative services in health and social care and have been designed to cater for different types of social enterprises. The SEIF Outreach Fund offers grants of up to £30,000 for organisations that are developing new products and services for those who are socially or geographically excluded. The SEIF Growth Fund offers investment packages from £50,000 to £10m to existing organisations for working capital, buildings, staff or any other outlays incurred by social enterprises in their efforts to grow. For more information go to the Department of Health's Social Enterprise Investment Fund.
NHS Quality Framework: Quality Accounts
The Dept. of Health is currently consulting on the format of a Quality Accounts report which it is proposed will be rolled out to third sector organisations deliverying NHS Health Services from 2011. VSNW have produced a briefing with details of how to respond.
Conversation with Commissioners
VSNW partnered with NHS North West in a series of Conversation with Commissioners events during October 2009. Below are some of the presentations from the events, which focused on ways in which the voluntary and community sectors can best engage with health service commissioners across the region.
World Class Commissioning - presentation by Liz Matthews from NHS North West
Presentation from health authorities in Lancashire
Presentation from NHS Cumbria (large file, 4MB)
Questions from the Health Partnership at Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation
Supporting People Review 2009
This Audit Commission review looks at the overall impact and successes of the programme; the progress against the 2005 recommendations; ongoing and existing concerns and new challenges linked to developing policies and changes in the external environment. It also looks for options for overcoming identified barriers and promoting opportunities. Download the report.
Health Bulletin 6
The latest Health and Social Care Bulletin is now available to download.
Green Paper: Shaping the Future of Care Together
The Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Care Together, sets out a vision for the future of adult social care in England. It proposes a new National Care Service that aims to be fair, simple and affordable for everyone. It makes the case for fundamental reform to the current system and invites views about the options for funding a new system of care and support. This paper gives a brief outline of the Green Paper and explains the different ways of engaging in the debate.
More information can be found in the Briefing Paper download prepared by NAVCA and Regional Voices. VSNW is a partner in Regional Voices which is a collaboration of the nine Regional Voluntary Sector Networks. Regional Voices and NAVCA are a national strategic partnership funded through the Dept. of Health to support our regional health and social care work.
For more in-depth information about the complex issues raised in the document, visit www.careandsupport.direct.gov.uk
The consultation closes on 13 November 2009.
If you would like to send your views on the Green Paper we would be pleased to receive them and they will form part of a regional response.
.
Healthier Horizons for the North West
The NHS North West have recently published Healthier Horizons for the North West. It is the Strategic Health Authority's review of the NHS in the region as part of their contribution to the national 'Our NHS Our Future' Review initiated by Lord Ara Darzi.
Below are links to the:
Executive Summary and the Full Report
NHS NW Workforce, Education Commissioning and Education and Learning Strategy
NHS NW are currently consulting on their Workforce, Education Commissioning and Education and Learning Strategy. The document outlines the approach to ensuring that the NHS can ensure it develops the workforce needed to meet future health care needs and seeks stakeholder views via an online questionnaire.
Below are links to the:
Full Report and the Executive Summary
NW Regional Employment Teams: Worklessness and Mental Health
Do you work in mental health within the VCS? Interested in being a VCS regional representative for the Regional Employment Team? if you think you might be then please read VSNW RET Briefing for more information.
Workforce Development: New Funding Guide
Skills for Care, Skills for Health and Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) have produced a workforce development funding guide aimed at employers in the social care and health sector
Welfare Reform Green Paper
The DWP published ‘no one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility’ on 21st July. The paper is open for public consultation until 22nd October 2008, and is available in easy read, large print, Braille and CD from welfare.reform@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
You can find the consultation questions at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform/noonewrittenoff/consultation-questions.pdf
Media responses from the VCS: Citizens Advice Bureau National Autistic Society
Skills for Health
Skills for Health have recently updated the Labour Market Information Resource. This provides access to a wide range of employment, skills training and demographic statistics related to the Health sector and can be customised to provide data specific to the VCS. The information is available for the UK as a whole, by country, region and health boundary and was last updated in June 2008: Skills for Health LMI resource
NHS Constitution
Lost in Translation - 7th December 2007
The presentations from the Lost in Translation conference held at Ewood Park are listed below. Key feedback from the plenary session at the end of the day identified that it is felt there is still a way to go in terms of the relationship between commissioners and the third sector, but the sector also needed to help itself. Areas identified inlcuded
- The third sector needed to help its member organisations to understand the opportunities available. Provide the development and information to enable them to make the changes necessary to take advantage of new opportunities, if they wish to.
- Full cost recovery was seen as a minimum requirement and that the third sector cannot be expeced to provide services at a loss.
- It is the Commissioners role to make changes in the services provided but they need to do it through users / patients - and the third sector has a key role to play in this.
Presentations
- Commissioning and the Third Sector - the NHS NW Perspective: Seamus McGirr, Associate Director, Commissioning & Strategy, NHS NW
- Losing it in Translation - engaging with the third sector and making rhetoric a reality: John Heritage, Director of Development, Making Space
- Market Intelligence - Provider Prospectus: Rob Foster, Halton & St. Helens PCT
- National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning: Sarah Wood, Director, 2000 Commissioners, I&DeA
- Being Procurement Ready: Gareth White, 3rd Sector Procurement Officer, Lancashire County Developments Ltd.
- Who Wants to be an Entrepreneur - Social Enterprise Development - Lessons from the North West: William Greenwood, NHS NW
Mental Health Commissioning
The Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) are organising a range of Stakeholder Events over the next few months in the North West to to hear the views sof a range of stakeholders and interested parties with regard to how mental health services are designed and delivered for people in the North West. To see a flyer and book a place click below:
Mental Health Commissioning Flyer
Mental Health Registration Form
Local Involvement Networks (LINks)
The latest edition of the LINks Bulletin has just been published. For more information about LINks see below
Legislation to set up Local Involvement Networks as the replacement for Patient and Public Involvement Forums has now passed through Parlliament. A number of pilot LINks have been set up across the country - Manchester is the one being developed in the North West.
LINks will be set up in every local authority area with responsibility for social care services. It is intended that LINks will be hosted by third sector organisations, and local infrastructurer organisations have been involved in being the support organisations for the existing PPI Forums. VSNW recommend you contact your local authority to find out what is happening in your area.
Health and Social Key Policy and Strategy Documents
Below you will find some of the key documents infoming the development of Health and Social :
Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: Making It Happen - delivery of the White Paper
A Stronger Local Voice - proposal for Local Involvement Networks
Third Sector Market Mapping - research into the level of involvement of third sector organisations in delivering health and social care services
No Excuses - Embrace Partnership Now. Step Towards Change! - Report of the Third Sector Commissioning Taskforce
Commisioning Framework for Health and Well-being - this document is part of the Our Health, Our Care, Our Say White Paper implementation. Its key aims are a move towards a more person centred approach to delivery; promotion of health and well being to reduce future ill health costs; commissioning services that will deliver better health through the development of partnership approaches across health and local authorities.
New Documents:
The Response to the Consultation on regulations for Local Involvement Networks (LINks) has now been published (August 2008). Over 300 people and organisations submitted their views and the report summarises the written responses.
The final report of the Third Sector Our Health Our Care Our Say Event has now been published. It provides an overview of the views expressed by those attending the event last March together with access to the presentations. Whilst not providing solutions, it does highlight the issues raised.
A draft strategy 'Improving Employment Rates of People Using Secondary Mental Health Services: A regional strategy for the North West' has been produced by the Regional Employment Team (RET). VSNW are currently seeking a regional VCS representative for this group, see RET briefing and RET Terms of Reference for more information
Featured Event
Influencing Parliament with the Communities and Local Government Select Committee
As part of the Parliamentary Outreach and VSNW 'Get Involved' series of events, this event will explore:
►What Parliament is and what it does
►How groups can effectively engage with Parliament
►Insights from a Specialist Clerk from the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee
Latest News
Listen Value Invest campaign is launched at the Houses of Parliament
The Listen Value Invest campaign was launched in a special event at the Houses of Parliament last week.
The Future of the North West - new collection of essays
A new collection of essays edited by the Smith Institute, which was launched in the House of Commons recently with the endorsement of an audience of more than fifty cross-party MPs and other stakeholders.
Demonstrating the local economic and social value of grant-making with the VCS
This new 'think piece' from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, commissioned by VSNW, explores the shift from grants to contracts, and the value of grant-making within the voluntary and community sector.
Events & Trainings
VSNW’s list of events & training opportunities for VCS groups in the North West
