At the Health Alliance Quarterly meeting in November 2022 we welcomed over 70 not for profit organisations to hear from Javed Khan OBE the chairperson of the newly formed ICB. He shared his admiration for voluntary organisations, his vision for the new ICS, how it is progressing so far and also took questions from participants.
Summary by Katie Higginson:
Javed opened with insight into his background and understanding of the VCSE developed over his career including 11 years as CEO of major charities – I really like his phrase:
‘Unique role of VCSE sector providing the glue that holds communities together comes to the fore at the most difficult times’.
“BOB is the lowest funded ICS in the country due to the relative affluence of our counties. 18000 GP visits, 400 new hospital admissions per day: we are running a deficit of £10s of millions because we are a demand-led service.”
Really stark figures about some of the challenges the health system in BOB is facing:
- Lowest per capita funding for the whole of England.
- Running a deficit of 10s of £ms
- 1800 GP visits a day
- 400 new hospital admissions.
- Affluence and prosperity in some parts masks health inequalities – 60k living in 20% most deprived wards in the country.
Articulated better than anyone I’ve heard so far about the journey we’re on toward an Integrated Care System:
- Explaining that it’s about systems thinking
- It’s not like running an organisation. V diff way of thinking.
- Breaking free from historical silos.
Recognising the strengths that the VCSE sector can bring to these partnerships:
- Is closer to the point of need than any of the statutory partners ever will be. You know where the pain is.
- You are more trusted by our communities than we ever will be.
- More efficient and less bureaucratic than Health Services can dream of being.
“I need no convincing that the voluntary sector is closer to the point of need than any of the statutory sector organisations ever will be”
“You are more trusted by the community by the nature of what you do” “You are far more efficient and less bureaucratic than we could dream of being”
“I know the vol sector doesn’t come for free” – you need an infrastructure to support volunteers – it costs” “I don’t need convincing”
Crucially recognised that VCSE sector doesn’t come for free. Later talked about the problem of short funding agreements.
Referenced conversations are going on with William and others about how we set out our commitment and ways of working between ICB and VCSE – what will Health System ask of us and what will it give us in return.
How do we invest in hearing that voice and how can we ensure that hearing it, that it can make a difference?
Recognised that there is still lots of work and thinking to do to bring VCSE voice to the ICB, ICP, Assemblies and Place work – and that’s what the Alliance is here to facilitate by providing a structure and a vehicle:
- To drive change collectively
- Ensure the voices of our members are heard
- Our contribution is recognised and paid for
“Challenge to us to work together, help to shape how we can work differently, be vocal about how things need to work for the sector and for communities, hold partners and each other to account, and speak not just with our individual organisations’ views but take responsibility for representing wider sector views when you have those opportunities.”
“Improve pop health, reduce inequalities, improve VfM, contribute to socio-economic development : ICB and ICP are governance vehicles.”
“We need to be able to prevent more than anything else”
Watch the full talk and Q&A here:
https://youtu.be/PSzeEC51Odg?t=1014
“William and I are already talking about how to put a framework around what we do.
Think about individually and collectively – in your shoes I’d be thinking I want to work in a broader strategic alliance with the statutory sector not just a little bit here, a little bit there or short-term but long-term multi-year alliances and the way that might work is when we’re facing a long term intractable challenge is inviting the vol sector in when we reflect what the challenge is to help identify the problem. The time to involve is not tender at the end. You should be demanding it at the start.”
The ICP draft Strategy and Engagement
“William is a great appointment as your chair and we meet regularly”
William will be on the ICP Board. The Alliance is now working on input to the ICP consultation period.
“Please shout loud on behalf of the people of BOB, this is the moment to make your voice heard.”
Poll
At the event we ran a poll and asked participants to rate their optimism about working in partnership with the new ICS.
Javed’s Response:
“We need to address the trust deficit and I hope that in time we can improve that score.”
We should note that the Alliance membership is weighted towards the medium to larger charities, whereas we estimate that there are in 8000 registered charities in BOB and another 5000 unregistered community groups – the vast majority of those are very small volunteer-run organisations. These smaller organisations are represented by the Alliance partners the infrastructure bodies for the VCSE in the two counties and three districts.
Resources:
We include below links to the slide deck and participant list. We will be sharing a full summary of the meeting next week.
- Slides: PDF
- Participant list: Excel List
- Transcript: Word doc
- Recording of case study: https://youtu.be/2bDK8YHeq-U
We look forward to working collaboratively in 2023.
Actions:
Share your views on the BOB Integrated Care Partnership’s strategic priorities
Consultation: Share your views online
Our next Quarterly meeting will take place on Thursday 30th March 2023. Book via eventbrite.
Case Study from the Health Alliance Quarterly Meeting November 2022
Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) Progress Update at Quarterly Meeting Nov 2022
