Archive for category: Volunteers for Health

The ICB Cluster of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland (LNR) have just released their new 5 Year Plan as they move into the role of Strategic Commissioners.

Their stated Commissioning objectives are:

•  Elective care – improving access and reducing long waits, modernising pathways, reducing unwarranted variation and delivering more care closer to home.

•  Urgent and emergency care – creating a resilient, integrated, and community-focused system that delivers the right care, in the right place, first time, with stronger prevention, same-day care and alternatives to admission.

•  Neighbourhoods – developing a Neighbourhood Health Service, delivered through Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, supported by digital connectivity, shared care records, and population health management.

Alongside these system priorities, The ICB Cluster have identified three strategic transformation ambitions that reflect the most significant population health challenges across LNR:

•  Frailty – enabling people to live a healthy older age with independence and dignity through early identification, proactive and personalised support, and reduced reliance on hospital care.

•  Preventable mortality – preventing early deaths from cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory disease through prevention, early diagnosis, and improved long-term condition management.

•  Children and young people’s mental health and neurodiversity – creating a joined-up, needs-led system that enables earlier, more equitable access to support, reduced waiting times and better transitions across the life course. 

The ICB Cluster Plan can be viewed at Page 5.

For those VCFSE organisations interested in Neighbourhood Health and Development this can be viewed at Page 24.

Russell Rolph, the CEO of VIN states:

It is always useful to see the long-term aspirations of our ICB cluster now that it stretches beyond Northamptonshire. VIN, in rotation, has a place at the Cluster Executive and will continue to advocate for our VCFSE. I am interested to see how the ICB Strategic Commissioning role plays out in the world of Neighbourhood Health. For me, there is still much work to be done in involving the VCFSE in health inequalities and health and wealth creation, particularly at a local level where most of our organisations live, work and invest.

The Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism collaborative have produced a Triple Squeeze Report which can be read here

It paints a picture of funding restrictions, increased demand and the pressures faced by charities because of the increase in both the minimum wage and national insurance contributions, legislated in the last Government budget.

Our Northamptonshire VCFSE sector and its challenges mirror the national picture.

From a VIN perspective, the report is a yet another which confirms the perilous state of our sector in these difficult economic times. Ultimately though, it’s not about charities or their structures or people but the beneficiaries they serve. If the sector starts to degrade our communities will be the poorer for it, and out statutory colleges will not be able to fill those gaps.

As for what can be done, well that’s a much trickier conundrum but it starts with Central Government and works through Local Government and Local Funders.

As CEO of VIN, I welcome the debate, not about restrictions or reductions but how better value can be achieved for what’s already committed.

At the recent VCFSE engagement Group of West Northamptonshire, Anne Rackham of NHFT gave an update on the framework for Neighbourhood Health across Northamptonshire.

The slides for this session can be viewed here

In essence, Neighbourhood health is about bringing health approaches to local people, in local communities or Neighbourhoods. The framework is complex and complicated and is full of many moving parts.

How health will be delivered within this context is a matter for the Health and Wellbeing Boards of both West and North Northamptonshire, but in many cases, the VCFSE could provide valuable and cost-effective solutions at a local level.

Attendees noted a few key and salient points for further consultation and discussion:

• How will the wider VCFSE be able to contribute to discussions?
• How will organisations bid for funding at a Neighbourhood level?
• How can VCFSE organisations be kept informed of decisions and updated on further relevant trends?

While the Health and Wellbeing Boards will set the general direction of travel, the Executive Place Boards and what sits below (Local Area Partnerships or Neighbourhood Forums) will convert that general approach into service delivery workplans.

Neighbourhood health is a moving feast, with more discussions to come.

What is clear, though is that one singular VCFSE organisation may not be enough to bid for commissioned work around health.

Russell Rolph, the CEO of VIN, states:

I think the VCFSE will need to come together to form collaborations at the neighbourhood level to best take advantage of any health funding that’s on offer. Commissioners work to assurance, and one singular VCFSE organisation might not be able to provide that. The strength is in the collective, and that’s something that VIN is looking towards, but first we must understand the priorities within each Neighbourhood and how they might be funded. Stay abreast of these updates by joining our next VCFSE Engagement Group. The date has yet to be decided, so come back to the website regularly for further guidance and possible dates.