Integrated care – embedding the VCSE

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Over 50 Voluntary and community organisations attended the first Integrated Care Workshop delivered by Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire and funded by both NHS England and the Big Lottery Community Fund. The event took place at Northamptonshire Saints Rugby Club, and speakers included Naomi Eisenstadt (the Independent Chair of the Health and Care Partnership Board), Katie Brown of West Northamptonshire Council and Joanne Fletcher of the Northamptonshire Heath Foundation Trust. Voluntary Sector speakers included Sarah Hillier, the CEO of Northamptonshire MIND and Chris Duff, the CEO of Age UK and VCSE Assembly Board Member. All of the slides from these speakers can be found here:

Health and Wellbeing Board

Mental Health Northants Collaboration

The Northamptonshire VCSE Assembly and Thematic Groups

Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme

Our ICS – Our conversations

Russell Rolph, the CEO of VIN stated:

The Integrated Care System is a massive change in the way in which Healthcare is delivered in Northamptonshire. The VCSE has a major role to play in this Transformation, but the concept of the ICS is complex, and our sector is far reaching and diverse. This is the first of hopefully many discussions which take place over the next 12 months.

Response to the Integrated Care Place Board White Paper

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Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire recently participated in a UK wide discussion seminar on the likely impacts of the Government White Paper on Point of Place Delivery within the newly to be formed Integrated Care Systems. The collective response, delivered through NAVCA, can be viewed here:

Russell Rolph, the CEO of VIN stated:

Its always nice to be invited to these UK wide discussions on important subjects, and I am grateful to NAVCA for the opportunity. How healthcare and health inequality is delivered and addressed at a point of place will be crucial moving forward. Big complex ideas always become clearer at a local Neighbourhood level, so it will be interesting to see how the implications of the White Paper play out, and particularly in Northamptonshire which is experiencing significant Transformation in its own right beyond the Integrated Care System.

Ukrainian resettlement

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The Local Authority is coordinating all aspects of the Ukrainian welcome in conjunction with a range of different community and statutory partners.

Information relating to all aspects of Ukrainian resettlement can be found on the West Northamptonshire Council website here.

Any individual sponsor or community response can register their support offer here.

A fundraising campaign has also been established and donations can be offered here.

The £1 million We Move Fund

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Children In Need have introduced their We Move Fund which aims to empower Black children and young people through Youth Social Action. They define youth social action as when children and young people use their voices to tackle subjects that matter to them. Children in Need will commit £10m over 10 years to create and invest in opportunities for Black children and young people.

They state: Youth Social Action is also part of our £4m Sharing Power (Youth Social Action) Programme. It is one of two Youth Social Action funds, being delivered in partnership with the #iwill Fund (a £54million joint investment between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport), which are open this year. If your organisation or project is not focussed on Black children and young people, you can read about our other fund here

BBC Children in Need wants to place children and young people at the heart of what we do. We want to create opportunities to support and nurture children and young people’s voices, ideas, and leadership in the UK. We also know that children and young people experienced a reduction in their chances to participate during the pandemic.

We know that Black children and young people face many barriers in British society. Racial inequality, racism and discrimination prevent Black children and young people from accessing many opportunities including:

  • accessing similar opportunities and services, compared to their peers.
  • engaging in social, cultural, education and economic activity.

This impacts a child or young person’s emotional wellbeing, mental health, and ability to thrive and be the best they can be.

The We Move Fund: Youth Social Action aims to:

  • Reach Black children and young people with opportunities to have their voices heard. It will empower them to create change about issues that matter to them
  • Achieve positive outcomes for Black children and young people through Youth Social Action
  • Learn about what Youth Social Action means to Black children and young people. We will share this learning with the sector.

For more information on the grant and how to apply click here.

Emmaus require volunteer support

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Emmaus Village Carlton is about to host several Ukrainian refugees soon, all displaced by the ongoing conflict with Russia. Emmaus Village Carlton will be providing accommodation which consists of one three-bedroom house, two one-bedroom flats and three bedrooms of shared accommodation. The accommodation will need regular cleaning and a call for volunteers is requested.

Potential volunteers are asked to bring all relevant cleaning equipment and chemicals. Emmaus Village Carlton is located here. For more information, please contact Conroy Whitebrook on 07743 019482.

Are they safe: Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire safeguarding podcast

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The purpose of the podcast is to raise awareness of safeguarding. You should listen if you are a member of staff, a volunteer or a trustee in the voluntary sector. We have been joined by a range of guests from organisations in Northamptonshire.

The series has been produced with NLive Radio and NAVCA, with guests Amarjit Pawar from Right Resolution CIC, Caroline Gooch from Age UK Northampton, Natriece Westwood from NDAS (Northampton Domestic Abuse Service), Northamptonshire Safeguarding Adults Board, Jane Geraghty, NSAB Independent Scrutineer, Michelle Wright, Team Manager for Safeguarding and Assurance, North Northants Council, and Angela Dempsey Chief Nurse for Northamptonshire CCG.

Listen now

In addition to a short introduction, our episodes will cover a number of topics including:

Roles and responsibilities

  • How to involve everyone in safeguarding
  • When and why organisations might want a designated safeguarding lead
  • The role of boards/ trustees/ management committees in safeguarding
  • How do organisations ensure that everyone is safe, and that all staff and volunteers take responsibility for keeping others safe?

Policies and procedures

  • What policies and procedures should organisations have (proportionate to size and the nature of their work)
  • How to make sure everyone in the organisation is familiar with the policies and procedures and comfortable using them

Risk, recognising, responding and reporting

  • Who is at risk and how this relates to organisation’s own responsibilities around safeguarding
  • Understand and recognise the different types of harm and abuse
  • Know what actions to take re safeguarding concerns, disclosures or allegations
  • How to report different types of incidents and safeguarding concerns

Recruitment and criminal record checks

  • What should organisations consider during the recruitment and induction of volunteers and staff?
  • What are Criminal Records checks, how to use them, and how not to.

 

happy-at-home-leaflet.pdf

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Integrated Care System workshop

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VIN delivered the first ICS workshop in Northampton on the 28 of March 2022, with funding from NHS England and the Lottery Community Fund. Over 50 delegates attended to hear a range of speakers, including the Independent Chair of the soon to be convened Integrated Care Board (ICB) and West Northamptonshire Council on Health Transformation in Localities and Neighbourhoods. The Integrated Care System (ICS) is a fundamental change to how Population Health Management will be delivered in our communities. Within the ICS structure, there is a requirement to embed and work with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE).  This guidance can be viewed here.

It will not be the role of the ICS to prescribe how they work with the VCSE, just that they will. Experience across the UK, in other Integrated Care Systems, demonstrate that the more the VCSE can group together along Thematic lines, the better the opportunity to engage. The Mental Health Collaborative, within our County, is an excellent example of this, with 50 organisations coming together to discuss the issues and challenges around the subject. With a weight of 50, they will be listened to.

The ICS cannot engage with every single VCSE organisation, so alignment is critical, particularly at Tier 1 (Neighbourhoods) and Tier 2 (Localities). At the moment, there is no real detail about who will sit where and why. Part of the solution will be driven by Local Authority data which informs health decisions based upon statistics and trends – but the rest is up for grabs.

One way of ensuring you are part of the collective is to join the VCSE Assembly. You can do this by simply emailing the Project Officer Kerri, at: kerri@vcseassembly.org.uk

The Assembly will keep you informed about what’s happening in the ICS, demystify some of the terminology, and has a place at the table of the potentially new Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), which will help inform the VCSE viewpoint on a whole range of health-related issues. Membership is free so there’s every incentive to join and have your say.

VIN is hosting another workshop on the 9 of May 2022 in Kettering, so if you missed the first one you still have an opportunity to engage and understand. You can book your place here.

Play Action International needs volunteers

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Play Action International’s Ukraine Play Box Appeal aims to give boxes of toys and play materials to as many of the estimated 90,000 Ukrainian children who are expected to arrive in the UK over the coming weeks as possible, as well as to Ukrainian children seeking refuge in Eastern Europe. By offering Ukraine’s children boxes of toys and play materials, together we can begin to give them a sense of their childhood back and heal through play.

The Play Boxes being sent to Play Action International for this appeal all need to be hand-checked before they give them to Ukrainian refugee children. This is where you come in!

Play Action International need volunteers who can come to Yodel’s base in Northampton (Yodel, Unit 4, Mercury Drive, Northampton, NN4 7JE) and help to check through Play Boxes and prepare them for sending.

Please fill out the form below with your availability for volunteering. The shifts available will be Mon – Fri, 11:00am-2:00pm and 2:30pm-5:30pm. You will be contacted THE DAY BEFORE, between 4:00pm – 7:00pm, to see if you are still available to volunteer.

The number of volunteers we need will vary from day to day, so please be flexible where possible. This is due to the unknown response and unknown quantity of boxes Play Action International will receive each day. You will be an essential part of this operation and Play Action International cannot thank you enough for volunteering your time.

Sign up to volunteer here.

To send a Play Box today, find the 3 ways of giving here.

happy-at-home-volunteer-story.pdf

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