New report highlights VCFSE sector’s central role in health and care
As the NHS sets out its 10 Year Health Plan, a new report reveals that many of its key ambitions are already being delivered in Cheshire and Merseyside thanks to the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector.
The report looks back on the first three years of a region-wide transformation programme, led by Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW) and funded by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside. It shows how local VCFSE organisations are already playing a vital role in prevention, supporting care closer to home and helping the health system better understand and respond to community need.
Working together
Through the VCFSE Alliance, made up of the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Leaders Group, the VS6 Partnership and Cheshire and Warrington Infrastructure Partnership , the programme has made it easier for organisations to work together locally and across the wider health and care system. This has enabled the sector to contribute collectively to neighbourhood health models, mental health transformation, hospital discharge planning, volunteering, research, and more.
Warren Escadale, Chief Executive of VSNW, said: “The 10 Year Health Plan sets out a clear ambition to build a preventative, community-centred health system and our report shows that this isn’t a distant goal, it’s already happening here in Cheshire and Merseyside.
“When the sector is recognised as a genuine partner, we see better outcomes for people, smarter use of resources and a stronger, fairer system. What’s made this possible is the way the programme has brought the sector together through our VCFSE Alliance strengthening infrastructure at place and system level so we can work collectively and achieve more than any one organisation could alone.”
Making change happen
The programme’s work is already aligned with some of the NHS 10 Year Plan’s most urgent goals, including:
Prevention – Through work with the Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance, VCFSE organisations have supported early cancer detection by engaging communities least likely to access mainstream services.
Neighbourhood health – The programme’s Place Transformation Fund has helped embed VCFSE organisations into local neighbourhood models, supporting joint priorities like dementia, SEND, and mental health.
Care closer to home – VCFSE led hospital discharge models, such as Healthy & Home, are offer people more personalised support based on their needs, helping them recover safely at home while easing pressure on hospital beds, alongside region-wide adoption of the Carers Charter to recognise and support unpaid carers.
Better use of data – Through the Data into Action programme, community organisations are beginning to access and apply data to better target support for those most at risk.
Inclusion and equity – Projects like BRIDGE and Phoenix Way are connecting diverse communities into research and co-production, ensuring services reflect a wider range of lived experience.
Cathy Elliott, Chief Executive of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said: “NHS Cheshire and Merseyside welcomes the 10 Year Health Plan for England and the opportunity to build models of neighbourhood health for the future. Working in partnership with the VCFSE sector will be key to delivering the priorities of the 10 Year Health Plan – especially neighbourhood healthcare.”
What’s next
As the programme enters its next phase in 2025–2026, it will continue to focus on embedding the VCFSE in neighbourhood health, developing prevention-first models and supporting the sector to engage meaningfully in data, commissioning and strategic planning.
For more information, contact cmhcl@vsnw.org.uk or download the full report.
What does the 10 Year Health Plan for England mean for the VCFSE sector (2025–2035)
Today (Wednesday, 3 July), the government released its 10-year plan for the NHS. We've broken down what it means for the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector, where the opportunities lie, and how we can help shape the NHS of the future.
Overview
The plan sets out a radical reform agenda for the NHS, focused on three fundamental shifts:
From hospital to community
From analogue to digital
From sickness to prevention
It recognises that the NHS cannot deliver these shifts alone and positions civil society, local government, and the third sector as vital partners in a reimagined, devolved, and preventative model of care.
Neighbourhood health services
Integrated Neighbourhood Teams will become central to care, with cross-sector collaboration essential.
Neighbourhood Health Centres will operate as “one-stop shops”. Opportunities exist for VCFSE organisations to co-locate or deliver services from these hubs.
Social prescribing and care navigation will be key; VCFSE groups already doing this will be vital delivery partners.
Emphasis on supporting complex needs, prevention, and tackling fragmentation aligns closely with many VCFSE roles.
From analogue to digital
Push toward digital access through the NHS App may create digital exclusion risks - VCFSE can help bridge this gap.
Opportunities for VCFSE involvement in digital upskilling, advocacy, and ensuring inclusive access.
The plan references using AI and wearables. VCFSEs working with disabled people, older adults, or digitally excluded communities have a key role in ensuring ethical and equitable implementation.
Sickness to prevention
Major role for local charities, food initiatives, youth organisations, and health inequality campaigners in:
Combatting obesity
Supporting smoke-free and vape-free environments
Promoting healthier behaviours
VCFSE sector seen as essential in delivering the “healthy choice as the easy choice” especially in disadvantaged areas.
Plan includes expanding mental health hubs for young people and school-based mental health teams, an area where many VCFSE organisations already deliver.
A new operating model
NHS will decentralise power to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and local providers, with a focus on partnership with local government and civil society.
Plan explicitly promises to make the NHS a better partner to third sector organisations.
ICBs are expected to work closely with voluntary sector infrastructure bodies, this could boost commissioning and co-design opportunities.
Workforce and community anchors
The workforce plan includes a focus on community-based roles, new career pathways, and diversity. VCFSE can help recruit, train, and retain local staff, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds.
“Neighbourhood Health” will require culturally competent, hyperlocal delivery, an area of strength for many grassroots charities and social enterprises.
Transparency and data
New emphasis on data transparency, patient choice, and outcome monitoring.
Opportunities for VCFSE organisations to contribute to local health intelligence, patient-reported outcomes, and community feedback mechanisms.
Concerns may arise around data sharing and privacy, particularly for smaller organisations - support may be needed.
Funding and sustainability
NHS will shift funding toward prevention and community care, creating potential new funding flows for VCFSE-delivered preventative interventions.
However, reforms also aim to improve efficiency and end block contracts, which may challenge legacy VCFSE commissioning models.
NHS aims to reserve 3% of spend for innovation. VCFSE innovation pilots could be supported here.
| Opportunity area | Role for VCFSE sector |
|---|---|
| Community-based care | Delivery of holistic, wraparound, culturally competent support |
| Digital transformation | Tackling digital exclusion, advocating for accessible tools |
| Prevention & health inequalities | Designing and delivering behaviour change, peer support, food & fitness projects |
| Partnership working | Young people’s services, suicide prevention, culturally tailored support |
| Evidence & data | Co-producing models with ICBs, local authorities, GPs |
This is a major shift in NHS strategy, creating real opportunities for the VCFSE sector to lead on prevention, reduce inequalities, and deliver localised care models. But delivery will require:
Clear commissioning pathways
Investment in VCFSE capacity
Genuine partnership and co-production
If you’re working to shape the VCFSE role in the North West, advocate for inclusion in neighbourhood models, and prepare for opportunities in data, digital, and prevention. However, the reality remains that the ambitions in this plan largely rely on redirecting investment when, certainly in the North West, the NHS faces huge challenges in just breaking even.
Building bridges between primary care and VCFSE Sector
On Thursday, 19 June 2025, the first in a series of roundtables brought together Greater Manchester Primary Care and voluntary community faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) leaders.
From the VCFSE sector, senior figures from local infrastructure bodies such as 10GM, the Alternative Provider Collaborative, the Mental Health Leaders Group, GM=EqAl, and cornerstone Greater Manchester (GM) organisations including the LGBT Foundation, Caribbean & African Health Network, 42nd Street and Answer Cancer took part. On the primary care side, attendees included senior leaders from the Primary Care Provider Board (PCB) and Primary Care Collaborative.
Those attending the session at the Friends Meeting House Manchester explored the governance, scale and operational models of each other, and reflected on the strengths, challenges and achievements of each other.
Shared purpose and shared potential
A number of key themes emerged from the discussion:
A common purpose and vision for improving health and care for all communities across Greater Manchester
Opportunities to better align delivery models and infrastructure support
How we might, in partnership, shape future models of delivery in Greater Manchester.
Linking local to national
Discussion also picked up on Sir Jim Mackey’s recent call for stronger integration across health systems: “We need all parts of the system to be as strong as every other part” - Sir Jim Mackey, Health on the Line (10th June 2025). Participants acknowledged that power and influence within the NHS is often unevenly distributed between organisations.
Roundtable attendees also discussed how working together could help deliver national priorities set out by Health Secretary Wes Streeting at NHS ConfedExpo in Manchester: radically improving population health approaches, systematically tackling inequality and creating a better neighbourhood health system.
What happens next
There was a strong sense that primary care boards, working with primary care providers across the city region, and VCFSE leadership can bring collective expertise and strength to shared Greater Manchester priorities, from the Live Well programme and neighbourhood health to designing prevention-focused services and delivering care closer to communities.
The roundtable was co-chaired by Tracey Vell, Chief Officer of the GM PCB, and Warren Escadale, Chair of the GM VCFSE Leaders Group, and supported by Rob Bellingham Consulting. Further sessions are planned, aiming to turn shared ambition into practical collaboration that improves outcomes for communities across the region.
Reflections from NHS Confed Expo 2025
Duncan
VSNW Board Member and We Are Survivors Chief Executive, Duncan Craig OBE, attended this year’s NHS Confed Expo and has shared with us his reflections.
As you know, NHS Confed Expo has taken place over the last two days. Whilst it’s impossible to give you a complete breakdown of everything, I can give you my thoughts and summary (as a delegate) that may help you think about the direction of travel within your organisation in regard to health.
The NHS Confederation is the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Members include Hospitals, Trusts, NHS providers, and the VCFSE.
A powerful start
The opening of the Confed, by Lord Victor Adebowale, set the tone for the two days. Lord Adebowale uncomfortably acknowledged the pending change within NHS and NHS England and what that means for staff, which very much put a heaviness in the air.
“And let’s be really honest for a moment – with changes at NHS England and across services, we know some of you won’t be here next year. There might not be roles for you, despite our experience and dedication to our communities. And for that I’m sorry, so I want to thank you now whilst I have the chance, for all that you have done for the health and care of others. We don’t take it for granted.”
As Victor closed the welcome, he talked about valuing people, and all people. He gave a moving example of this in talking about a close family member who passed away at the age of 92 very recently and how she was a nurse for so many years but her passing was not the dignified death it should have been.
“She got a black service, not an NHS service. So I have to address the inequity that still exists within the NHS, in terms of the experiences that people who look like me continue to receive. It just hasn't got any better. It is not acceptable that someone who looks like me, on average waits 20 minutes longer in A&E than white patients. To achieve an inclusive, equitable NHS we need an inclusive equitable culture from top to bottom.”
He then went on to say “and when I say valuing people, I mean everyone. I stand with my trans colleagues, and our trans patients in these incredibly uncertain times. Trans and non-binary staff are facing more bullying, more discrimination from patients, more unwanted sexual behaviour, more physical violence from colleagues and more physical violence from patients than our cisgender and heterosexual staff. If you allow it to happen once, you allow it to happen everywhere. This is utterly unacceptable behaviour and does not belong anywhere, let alone in the NHS.”.
The welcome address set the tone for me, and many others I met throughout the day, about being brave and having honest conversations.
A focus on tech
There is no doubt in my mind that “how can tech help health and how can health engage tech” was the overwhelming theme of Confed, whether that was on purpose/by design or whether that is the direction of travel and so the expo is showing a natural growth, is debatable. But it certainly makes me reflect on how is the VCFSE part of this digital health revolution? Is the NHS asking the VCFSE where it’s up to? How can the two entities be equal partners in shaping a future health system that involves tech appropriately but also be daring together?
Standout sessions
There were some fascinating main stage sessions – highlights for me included:
Wes Streeting’s speech
And then the one that kind of everyone wanted to hear was Secretary of State for Health, Rt Hon Wes Streeting, who gave his keynote on day two. The key take-aways for me from what the Secretary of State had to say were:
He is wholly supportive and wants to encourage tech involvement and innovation in health and social care.
He 100% wants to assure us all that the NHS is always going to be a people business.
He wants us all to be cautious and take a considered tentative approach to private investment.
And he recognises the NHS has been built on the hard work and effort of people born outside of the UK (stating its not a coincidence that NHS was built when Windrush docked) and it will always continue to be a diverse organisation; but that we can’t keep taking staff from other countries (especially those on the WHO red list) as its not ethical or in the best interests of mankind and we have to invest in and build our own, citing the example of getting a large number of extra GPs in as there was plenty that were unemployed.
The missing piece
Talking to some other VCFSE Leaders from around England and Wales, we all had a consensus that it was disappointing that he didn’t really talk about the VCFSE despite talking about hospital to community; and there was not enough recognition of the breath of resource in the VCFSE.
Men’s health left out
The NHS 10 Year Plan is due out soon and so those of us working with victims of RASSO have to ensure that not only do we work hard with officials to make the criminal justice system a better place for victims/survivors; but that we reach out to NHS/DHSC and work out how we keep the HEALTH of victims/survivors as a high priority.
Personally, I was disappointed that the Secretary of State didn’t even make a comment on the men’s health strategy but, I also appreciate that there is always something left out – I just wonder why it always has to be that which is connected to be betterment of male survivors.
However, all is not lost and the changes in the health system and a new plan pending, it is our responsibility to help deliver on the plans and ensure male survivors are not forgotten about.
Save the date for #DoWith North West
Hosted by Voluntary Sector North West and The King’s Fund
Monday 14 July 2025
10:00am – 12:30pm
St Thomas Centre, Ardwick Green North, Manchester M12 6FZ
We want your voice to shape the next steps of the #DoWith movement in the North West. We’re bringing people together from across sectors to ask: How do we make the shift to a real ‘Do With’ approach, not just in theory, but in practice?
This event is designed to gather your reflections, challenges, and ideas. There’ll be a few short talks to inspire thinking, but most of the time will be spent in meaningful table discussions.
The full agenda and registration link are coming soon. For now, please save the date and get ready to join the conversation.
Opportunity: Help shape better support for neurodivergent children and young people across Cheshire & Merseyside
Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisations are invited to express interest in delivering training as part of a new neurodiversity pathway for children, young people and families across Cheshire and Merseyside.
Funded through the Beyond Programme, the training aims to build a consistent understanding of a needs-led approach and a newly established profiling tool among professionals in health, education, and family services.
Two delivery lots are available:
Lot 1: Regular training sessions for professionals (12-month programme; £14,000).
Lot 2: Online information sessions for families and carers (46 sessions; £3,000).
Training resources and support will be provided, with delivery expected from June 2025 to May 2026, and potential for a 12-month extension.
Expressions of interest (max 500 words) must be submitted by 5pm, Thursday 22 May 2025 to alison.cullen@vsnw.org.uk.
For any questions, please contact:
alison.cullen@vsnw.org.uk, dave.packwood@vsnw.org.uk or philip.thomas@cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk
New letter makes the case for VCFSE sector as NHS local health and care functions are reviewed
Representatives from the 42 voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) Alliances operating across England are working together to make the case for the sector in local health and care.
Ahead of formally launching later this year, the interim Alliance42 steering group, which VSNW’s Chief Executive sits on for the North West, has written to the new Chair of NHS England, Dr Penny Dash, and members of the national working group reviewing the functions of local Integrated Care Systems and Boards (ICBs). The review comes following the announcement last month of the abolition of NHS England and significant cuts to local ICBs.
Warren Escadale, VSNW Chief Executive, said:
“We understand our submission has been positively received. However, the proof will be in the updated functions of an ICB which are due out in the next few weeks. We hope that Alliance42, connecting to VCFSE groups in every local health system, can be a powerful voice for our sector’s role in health and care nationally. The aim is that the sector is recognised and invested in as a must-have full partner. It won’t be easy and this is just the first step.”
The Alliance42 steering group consists of agreed representatives from each NHS region, nominated by 42 VCFSE Alliances in England – partnerships of VCFSE organisations with the aim of strengthening the sector's voice, influence, and involvement by leveraging their strengths. They have written the letter ahead of Government publishing a new operating model for ICBs next month, asking that the convening power of VCFSE Alliances are fundamental to underpinning ICBs.
The letter calls for the revised ICB operating model to ensure the VCFSE sector is included as a full partner in shaping strategy, governance and in the delivery of that strategy, with ICBs continuing as a systems convenor. This means bringing together cross-sector partners and organisations.
Highlighted in the letter is the substantial contribution of local VCFSE groups and networks to healthy neighbourhoods, as well as the sector’s offer around supporting the work of the NHS, helping to tackle and prevent health inequality. It is vital that the sector is seen as a fundamental building block of medium- and long-term improvement to ensure people are best supported. Moreover, investment in the VCFSE sector presents a clear opportunity for strategic commissioning for the creation of social value.
Our sector’s passion, innovation and values-driven approaches need to be better embraced if we are going to create an effective, integrated, collective culture for improving health and care in all our communities.
Read the full letter here.
New Greater Manchester guidance champions lived experience in policy
We asked members of GM Equality Alliance to share why they think it’s important to include the voices of lived experience in policy making. Find out what Circle Steele, CEO, Wai Yin Society, had to say.
Greater Manchester Equality Alliance (GM=EqAl) has published a new guide for public sector partners on how to meaningfully include lived experience in policymaking.
The guidance, developed as part of the VCFSE Accord’s equalities workstream, is packed with practical advice, from co-production and inclusive engagement to fair remuneration for people sharing their time and expertise. It encourages organisations to go beyond one-off consultations and really embed community voices into the heart of how decisions are made.
Jules Palfreyman, Chair of GM=EqAl, said: “We are really proud of this piece of work… We really hope that it will be useful but more importantly effective in embedding the voice of lived experience in decision-making.”
This is a timely and valuable resource for anyone looking to strengthen their approach to working with communities. It reflects what many of us in the North West VCFSE sector have been championing for years, that policies and services work best when they’re shaped by the people most affected by them.
You can access the full guidance and a summary version on the VCFSE Leadership GM website.
Talking about the unthinkable
Our Answer Cancer Project Coordinator, Jacqui Naraynsingh, has written a blog post for the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, to discuss the importance of workplace support for cancer screening.
It highlights that over 900,000 people in the UK workforce are living with cancer, with 28% reporting minimal or no support from their employers.
The Bee Seen, Get Screened campaign encourages employers to pledge support by guaranteeing paid time off or flexible working for NHS cancer screening appointments, raising awareness about health and wellbeing, and fostering open conversations about cancer and screening. Over 145 businesses in Greater Manchester have already signed up, benefiting nearly 150,000 employees.
Read the blog, Talking about the Unthinkable, on the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter website.
