BOB VCSE Health Assembly Summary (February 2025)

Summary 

Welcome and Meeting Registration 

William welcomed everyone to the meeting, noting that 73 people attended. He asked those who hadn’t yet registered for membership to do so in the chat, which would also sign them up for the newsletter. He mentioned that there was a packed agenda for the meeting. 

Budget Impacts on Voluntary Sector 

The meeting discussed the implications of budgets, national insurance contributions, and national living wage increases for the voluntary sector. Tony Chapman presented projections on the labour market and wage situation, highlighting the potential for increased costs and difficulties in fulfilling contracts. He also mentioned the upcoming third-sector trends survey which would open for responses in June. Dan Leveson, the ICB director for places and communities, discussed the impact of resource constraints on the NHS and the implications for the voluntary sector. He outlined the planning direction of the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, West Integrated Care Board.  

Q&A Examples

Katie: When you talk about community, do you mean NHS community services? Or do you include VCSE in that and how widely is that understood by neighbourhood planning? 

Dan: I think increasingly it’s been understood that the success of neighbourhood teams is going to be much more about the connection with local authority and the community voluntary sector, so I think it’s coming. On the planning side, it’s so early in the planning of these things, at differentent stages in different levels so it’s hard for me to say how well it’s understood. However if I look across some of the stuff that’s being invested, so if you take Buckinghamshire Joy app, it really looks at how social subscribers connect with the voluntary community sector. And then there’s the Live Well Oxfordshire and the Oxford way that talks about the community assets in there, so I think there is an increased understanding of it. I think what Katie is getting at is how well does the NHS really understand the communicatory voluntary sector and their work. We are learning, it does feel like a new way for some of us to work, particularly it does feel like it’s super local for us. We are getting there with our understanding about how the connections with community services and assets in communities work. 

Nicola: With a potential uplift and efficiency shift saving targets, will be will this be on a case-by-case basis or are there plans to a BOB wide principle on how this can be managed? 

Dan: I think it’s a case by case at this stage. I think part of what we go through in the next section is that we’ve just emerged from a restructure and it’s a reconfiguration of our organisation, so getting single clear policies matters. It’s the case that there are some planning principles around each contract and around things like health inequalities and prevention. The drive to deliver a balanced budget with no deficit is driving some of the decisions so it is hard to say. 

NHS’s Mission-Led Government and Shifts 

Dan discussed the mission-led government and its three shifts over the next ten years. The first shift is moving more care from hospitals to communities, with a focus on virtual wards and hospital-at-home schemes. The second shift is from analogue to digital, requiring capital investment in digital infrastructure. The third shift is from treatment to prevention, with a focus on AI, autonomous follow-ups, and sensors. He highlighted the challenges of increasing costs, growing demand for services, and a lack of new investment. Dan also discussed the planning priorities, emphasising the need to sort out elective waiting times, improve A&E waiting times, enhance access to general practice and dental care, and improve mental health and learning disability services. He concluded by discussing the development of neighbourhood services, which he sees as a key area for change. 

Addressing Challenges in the Voluntary Sector 

Dan addressed the challenges facing the voluntary and community sector, including the impact of national insurance increases and the inequality in contracting processes. He acknowledged that there was no easy solution to these financial pressures but emphasised the need for a more agile approach to prevention and community work. Dan discussed the importance of simplifying procurement and contracting processes for the voluntary sector and balancing incentives for working with them against efficiency requirements. He also explained that understanding of community involvement in neighbourhood planning is improving but still developing. Dan noted that neighbourhood team resourcing varies by location and that there are opportunities to weight investments towards areas of greater need. He acknowledged the need for more consultation with the voluntary sector and the public in the early stages of planning, while also encouraging engagement with existing initiatives. 

ICB Operating Model and Partnerships 

In the meeting, Sarah Adair, the Associate Director of Communications and Engagement at the Integrated Care Board (ICB), presented the revised ICB operating model. She highlighted the need for better community involvement and insight and the development of a new team to achieve this. Dan, the Director for Places and Communities, discussed the changes in the ICB’s operating model, including the removal of place directors and the introduction of executive sponsors. He also outlined the role of place-based partnerships in focusing on people and populations, increasing prevention, reducing inequalities, and developing new care models. The conversation ended with a discussion on the future of the place convenor role. 

Balancing Budgets and Long-Term Contracts 

In the meeting, William, Dan, and Sarah discussed the challenges of balancing budgets and the need for longer-term contracts with the voluntary community sector. Dan emphasised the importance of working with place-based partnerships and the need to find ways to contract for longer periods. He also mentioned the difficulty of the planning cycle and the need to overlay the challenge of delivering a balanced budget with the issues discussed. The team also discussed the need for engagement at the place level with the relevant people, with Tina expressing difficulty in figuring out who to talk to. The conversation ended with plans to reconvene after a break. 

Progress on Partnership Priorities Discussed 

The summary reviews the progress on seven partnership priorities agreed between the Bob VCSE Health Alliance and the Integrated Care Board (ICB). Stephen reports good progress on sharing key sector findings with NHS staff, deep engagement in mental health governance, and identifying forums for ageing well and learning disability/autism action groups. Roneish Myers talks about CPAR (Community Participatory Action Research). Fiona Price describes the ageing well group’s involvement in discussions on winter pressures, virtual wards, and primary care strategy. Efforts on health inequalities include developing a network of community researchers. Jintana Loss discusses her new role facilitating student placements in VCSE organisations. Laura Price highlights the importance of VCSE representation in place-based partnerships. Stephen notes that challenges remain around transparency and accessibility of funding for VCSE organisations. Tony provided a national perspective, highlighting similar issues across regions and the need for more creativity and empathy from the NHS in working with smaller organisations. 

Learning Disability & Autism Workshop & Membership Updates

The meeting covered several topics related to the LD&A workshop (sign up here), membership updates, and housing health in Oxfordshire. Stephen confirmed the LDNA workshop on 3rd April is scheduled for 2.5 hours. Kirsty discussed updates to the organisation’s database and encouraged members to sign up for the newsletter and participate in member spotlights. Gill introduced a project on how homes in Oxfordshire support population health and wellbeing, emphasising the importance of VCSE input. The group discussed challenges in NHS-VCSE collaboration, including funding issues and the need for better representation.  

Next Assembly Date

The next BOB VCSE Health Assembly in early July and the date will be communicated via the Alliance newsletter (sign up for the newsletter here)