I was recently invited to our Connect Northamptonshire mid term review which has held at the Waterside Connect Hub, home of SCCYC. Our Connect Northamptonshire Programme has made major strides over the past 10 months and has shone a light on how to do things differently at a point of place, using the skills and knowledge of the VCSE. The meeting enabled me to revisit the Kings Fund Report entitled Understanding Integration (How to listen and learn from communities) which was first written in 2021. At the time, I remember thinking that whilst there was nothing radical contained within its pages, it was an excellent summary of how to do things well. Revisiting recently, I still think the same.

Whilst there are some excellent pockets of work taking place across Northamptonshire (including the work of Claire Neilson within Connect Northamptonshire) I still think there’s some way to go, and I think that’s natural given that the Integrated Care System is a relatively new kid on the block.

VIN has held several Health Inequality Events this year, and the same issue appears to persist, and it’s all about the Legacy of Service Delivery Commissions. People across all sectors tend to say the same thing which equates to:

• We do just as much as we can to push commissions through the door.
• Condensed timelines mean that we never truly undertake market intelligence effectively.
• How much do we really learn from the Commissions we deliver.

The Kings Fund Report highlights this friction, stating clearly that both time and resources should be given to talking to and listening to communities. And it makes sense. The more we listen the better our Commissions become and ultimately that saves the system time and money in the long term.

And I have a simple solution , but that solution requires Commissioners to think differently and turn this conundrum on its head.

Each Commission should top slice a small amount of funding which should be given to a local VCSE organisation to undertake that market intelligence. As Independent brokers the VCSE comes without the baggage of statutory partners and can talk in a different way about what Commissions are ultimately expected to deliver and achieve. I can hear the challenges now – Top Slicing means less to spend – Yes – But the Spend will be so much more effective and will provide a better Return on Investment for Local Authorities and Health Providers, and that’s the game we are in and part of.

I would welcome a discussion on this. It seems logical, rational, sensible and can be piloted simply.

I know that Commissioners are under pressure to deliver, and that in general it’s a risk averse business (for a whole raft of differing reasons). But the Integrated Care System is about opportunity and the LAPS are about trialling things in a new and improved way. And I now have Connect Northamptonshire as my evidence base.

The Kings Fund state:

The advent of the ICS and place-based working offers a real opportunity to ensure people and communities are at the heart of health and care. Done well, this work can bring partners together around a shared purpose, one that is set by the communities they serve.