ICS Implementation Guide on the VCSE and the ICS

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NHS England have produced a Guidance Note entitled Building Strong Integrated Care Systems Everywhere (GN PAR 905)

It is attached for information and can be seen here

It provides excellent context for the ICS generally, but pages 14 – 16 talks specifically about VCSE involvement at a system and local level (Point of Place Delivery).

It also mentions an Alliance Model for the VCSE, which in Northamptonshire rests with the VCSE Assembly and its Thematic Groups. For more information about the Assembly and how to get involved contact the Assembly Project Officer at:

kerri@vcseassembly.org.uk

The conclusion of this Guidance states what for many of us operating within the VCSE is obvious, but it is worth restating:

The voluntary, community and social enterprise sector is key to the creation of successful integrated care systems. NHS England and Improvement are committed to supporting systems to build effective local partnerships everywhere. We hope this guidance will help local leaders to strengthen their arrangements, building on learning from around the country.

Please take the time to read and understand this Guidance.

 

Public Engagement within the Integrated Care System

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Public engagement is a principal plank of the new Integrated Care System or ICS. Each ICS across the UK (including Northamptonshire) will need to work directly with communities on issues of Health Inequality and tailor bespoke solutions for and with them. This is likely to happen most at a localised level, through the concept of Local Area Partnerships (there will be 17 of these in total across both West and North Northamptonshire).

Local Area Partnerships will consist of household populations of between 30,000 and 50,000.

It is a requirement of the ICS to engage with communities and engage well. It stands to reason that if you engage well, communities understand and can, on occasions, mobilise support.

The Draft Public Engagement Strategy for Northamptonshire can be found here: Get involved | Integrated Care Northamptonshire (icnorthamptonshire.org.uk)

This new Integrated Care Website also provides details of the newly constituted Integrated Care Board (or ICB) – which is effectively the Governance of the System at a strategic level.

The Public Engagement Strategy is currently in Draft format awaiting ratification by both the North and West Health and Well-being Boards in September of 2022.

Contract signing begins new era for mental health services in Northamptonshire

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Contracts have been signed to officially confirm ‘collaborative’ status for Integrated Care Northamptonshire’s Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism (MHLDA) programme.

This momentous occasion – which cements the next phase of work to deliver better outcomes for our county’s population – was marked with a special signing session at Berrywood Hospital in Northampton .In attendance to complete the signing of the contracts were Toby Sanders, Chief Executive of NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board (NICB), and Angela Hillery, Chief Executive of Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT).They were joined by MHLDA programme leads Anne Rackham and Morgan Price, Andy Willis, a former service user who is now a MHLDA lived experience lead, and David Williams, Director of Strategy and Partnerships for NHFT.

Collaboratives provide a legal framework for organisations to work together in partnership to design and improve services to meet the needs of communities as part of an integrated care system.

The formalisation of the MHLDA programme’s collaborative status means an outcomes-based contract is now in place for service providers in Northamptonshire to work jointly towards shared ambitions, with the priorities of service users and their families at the heart of strategic planning.

 

Join VIN at our next Poverty Truth Commission on the 4th of August 2022

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 If your interested in the subject of Poverty or Financial Vulnerability, and you want to hear more about the Poverty Truth Commission in West Northamptonshire then why not join us.

Andrew Grinnell from the Poverty Truth Network will be talking about his experiences of other Poverty Truth Commissions across the UK, including his own in Leeds, and the challenges and opportunities they present.

VIN will be talking about training for Commissioners – and how the Poverty Truth Commission can help inform West Northamptonshire’s Anti-Poverty Strategy and the new ICS Local Area Partnerships.

Lunch is provided – and its free to attend. We would love to see you there..!!

The venue is: Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, 4-6 Guildhall Road, Northampton NN1 1DP

Time: 11-3

 

 

Friday Bulletin

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Take a look at our latest Friday Bulletin to catch up with the latest VIN news, job opportunities and funding news.

Find the latest edition here

Sir Robert McAlpine Funding

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There’s funding available for non-profits in Kettering. Sir Robert McAlpine has launched a £12,500 fund to support community projects that aim to drive positive change in the local area.

Grants of up to £3,000 are available for non-profits of all shapes and sizes. Applications are open until 29 July

Don’t miss out! To find out more and apply head to ActionFunder: https://bit.ly/3xZax4p

 

Systems and Structures of the ICS

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25 VCSE organisations attended the latest virtual Network Session on the current developments within the ICS in Northamptonshire.

The slide deck can be seen here

What is the ICS?

It’s a way of providing better healthcare to the residents of Northamptonshire by working in a more integrated fashion, which includes the VCSE sector as key deliverers of services.

It works at a Point of Place, known as Local Area Partnerships or LAPS, which will serve population sizes of between 30 and 50,000.

It is a requirement of any ICS to work with and tailor services to local community needs and priorities.

Whilst there are 4 clinical priorities within Northamptonshire (shown in the slide deck) the ICS is about the Wider Determinants of Public Health.

Organisations are encouraged to read and digest the contents of the slide deck. Any queries, concerns, challenges, or opportunities should be relayed to VIN in the next 2 weeks by E Mailing info@voluntaryimpact.org.uk and placing ICS in the subject Line. These responses will be collated and relayed to the two Directors of Place within West and North Northamptonshire.

 

A view from the Turret on Connections

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The Simplest of Connections are often the best

 This week I have seen examples of how the simplest of connections often provide the most value to individuals within communities. The first was a trip to Northamptonshire MINDs new hub – a great space packed with passionate and skilled staff and volunteers. They talked to me about their various projects, and how they were keen to connect individuals to services, largely around the subject of health and wellbeing but not exclusively. And boy is it needed….

I have said this hundreds of times over the past 3 months but it’s worth saying again. COVID19 has exacerbated an already frightening story of mental ill – health: 21.3% of adults over the age of 18 have clinical signs of psychological distress. Depression amongst adults has nearly doubled over the past 24 months, and with a cost-of-living precipice around the corner these statistics will worsen. The current economic crisis is an inconvenience for the affluent, it’s a worry for those who work and its frightening for the most vulnerable and disconnected. The hub that MIND have will enable those individuals to seek support and solace over a cup of tea, and I have committed to supporting them with volunteering advice and signposting moving forward. I wish them every success. From these small connections I am hopeful that individuals within our communities can gain back some self-esteem and aspiration.

In a similar vein, VINs veterans’ coffee morning brought together those with an armed forces background: One story stuck in my head: Two veterans sat next to each other over a cup of tea and realised that not do they live in the same building, but on the same floor, yet have never spoken or passed the time of day. They now plan to visit and support each other on a regular basis.

Simple connections are what the VCSE is excellent at forging: It will be a fundamental part of the new Integrated Care System that such small connections continue and grow to help arrest some of the health inequalities we currently face: It goes beyond copious pages of strategic development and policy formulation which communities often struggle to understand and engage with.

Never underestimate the power of small.

 And if you are interested in volunteering for MIND they have several opportunities, from Peer Support Volunteers through to Volunteer Counsellors. If you are interested, please contact enquiries@northamptonshiremind.org.uk

As they say, whether you have 2 hours or 10 hours per week to spare, they would love to hear from you.

 

A View from the Turret on Bank Accounts

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So you want to open a bank account?

That seems like a simple thing that most charities would want to do at some point in their organisational journey. You would think that the banking industry would welcome charities with open arms (large and small) as it provides good business, makes perfect and logical sense and is potentially philanthropic by its very nature and the connections it could create. How wrong could you be?

Everyday I hear of the struggles which charities are experiencing in both opening and maintaining a working bank account. This applies across the UK as equally as it does in Northamptonshire.

NAVCA, NCVO and others have been surveying community-based organisations about their banking experience and have highlighted four key themes which I recognise only too well.

Services that charities need are increasingly unavailable.

Services that are available are not suited to the way that charities operate.

Charities often encounter poor customer service.

Online banking is not designed for or accessible to charities.

Speaking from VINs own personal experience of the last two years, we have made at least 4 complaints against our well know high street bank for poor systems and shocking customer care. Whilst we have received compensation on nearly every occasion, they don’t seem to improve or even appear to want to.

If any organisations in Northamptonshire are struggling to open or maintain a working bank account, please let us know at info@voluntaryimpact.org.uk placing Banking in the subject line. We will forward your concerns to NAVCA as they open negotiations and debate with the banking industry.

Community Foundation shares its Impact Report

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The latest impact report from Northamptonshire Community Foundation can be found here: IMPACT REPORT FINAL 22.06.2022.pdf (ncf.uk.com)

Page 18 of the report (entitled voices from the sector) echoes many of the issues reported to VIN on a regular basis.

Sustainability moving forward is a real issue for our sector, with many smaller charities digging deep into their reserves to survive or at the point of closure. An increasingly competitive funding market makes it harder to access and maintain funds. Fewer funders now fund core activities and there is still the issue of funding short termism rather than funding longevity which gives organisations an opportunity to rebalance following COVID. The nature of volunteering is changing, with more volunteers attracted to short term campaigns or appeals rather than longer term commitments. With the cost-of-living crisis ever present, people at work are having to work harder for longer with little extra time to volunteer. Staff and volunteer fatigue within the sector is an ever present, as is the skill drain to other sectors exacerbated by the range of pressures on family household incomes.

VIN will continue to work with NCF and other funders in an attempt to draw these issues out and raise their profile. As we move into an Integrated Care System (with its emphasis on People and Places) VIN will work tirelessly to ensure the new constructs of Local Area Partnerships are the right vehicles for the work, properly represented with the ability to make changes at a local level which involves communities.