Over the past year we have been working with colleagues across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to develop a Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Provider Alliance. This Alliance will allow us to organise our sector collectively and at scale to be embedded in the newly formed Health & Care structures across our Integrated Care System (ICS).
Work has progressed significantly to establish the VCSE Provider Alliance, which is now being formally embedded within the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System (ICS), and has been identified as one of the ways of supporting more collaborative working within the region. Through the ICS, our ambition is to continue to make a real difference to our citizens’ health and wellbeing, quality of service delivery and use of resources, and it is recognised that the VCSE sector will be key to this success.
We would encourage all organisations with an interest in being part of the Health & Care system to find out more about the Alliance and become a member.
What is the VCSE Alliance?
The purpose of the VCSE Alliance is to enable every citizen to enjoy their best possible health and wellbeing by bringing together representatives of local, regional and national VCSE organisations as a single point of contact, to generate citizen intelligence from the groups and communities that they work with. This vital insight is then going to be shared across the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICS and Integrated Care Board (ICB) to ensure that the experiences and views of our citizens are considered in the design and delivery of health and social care services in the region, and to enable an effective two-way flow of information.
As part of the development of the new VCSE Alliance, we will shortly be recruiting for a Chair. One of the key responsibilities for this role will be to support our “citizen first” approach, ensuring that the intelligence and insight from people and communities are collated and shared effectively. Written strongly within the ‘Vision and Values’ for the group, is the need to amplify the voices of those communities who don’t always engage with health and care services.
To support this, a ‘framework’ is being developed which will outline how citizens' intelligence will be collated - utilising the experience of the Chair and Alliance members to engage with these communities - and how the outputs for patients will be measured. The framework will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Alliance.
Joining the VCSE Alliance - is it right for you?
All Nottingham and Nottinghamshire VCSE organisations are welcome to join the Alliance, and all members - from the largest to the smallest voluntary organisations – will act as equal partners within it.
The next meeting takes place on Tuesday 7 February from 2pm to 4pm, via Teams.
If you are interested in joining and would like to attend the next meeting, please contact Prema Nirgude, Head of Insights and Engagement, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). Email prema.nirgude@nhs.net or call 07920 081599.
If you would like to have a chat about whether this is right for your organisation, please get in touch with Jules Sebelin, Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS) Chief Executive: juless@nottinghamcvs.co.uk.
ICS Partners Assembly and development of the Integrated Care Strategy
On Tuesday 25 October 2022, the first ICS Partners Assembly was held in Mansfield. This brought people together from across the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire system, including NHS, local authority, VCSE organisations, citizens and patients. The Chair and Vice Chairs of our ICS spoke about the journey so far, the enduring challenges faced by our citizens, the urgent need to address these and the opportunities that the development of our Integrated Care Strategy will bring. There were keynote presentations from Professor Daniel King from Nottingham Trent University and Jules Sebelin from Nottingham CVS who looked at the impact of the VCSE sector, lessons learned from the pandemic and integration from the perspective of the sector.
More information about the event can be found on the ICS 'Plans and Priorities' webpage, which links through to presentation slides from the event.