Thriving Communities Film Expressions of Interest
The North West Thriving Communities Team are looking to commission four short films as part of the North West National Academy for Social Prescribing Learning Together Programme.
Please view the project brief calling for expressions of interest from voluntary, community, faith or social enterprise organisation operating in the North West.
Applicants are welcome to apply to deliver one or all of the films as outlined.
The deadline for expressions of interest in Monday 19th July. If you would like more information please email jan.campbell@seftoncvs.org.uk..
From This to That: Changes in the NHS
Confused about the upcoming NHS reconfiguration? Too many acornyms?
VSNW have produced a resource to help extrapolate key information relevant to the sector in light of the upcoming changes as outlined in the Whitepaper.
Click on the image below.
World Health Day 2021
This year’s World Health Day falls in the midst of a global health pandemic. Despite England’s efficient vaccine role out and drastically falling new infection rate, Covid-19 has already and will continue to devastate the lives of many of us.
During VSNW’s Festival of North West Thinking which included a series of online events from October to December last year, we welcomed an array of inspirational speakers discussing different areas- mostly related to the pandemic- and its affect on communities and also the VCSE sector.
In recognition of World Health Day, we want to remind organisations of the powerful words of Farzana Kahn, Director of Healing Justice London, who spoke eloquently during our first event "Covid-19 Recovery: VCSE Leadership Voices Assembly” about ‘health inequalities’.
See some highlights from her opening remarks here:
Further highlights from the event can be seen here.
Coronavirus Campaigns & Resources
Here you can access government- provided resources for the following campaigns:
New 'Covid-19 Response: Spring 2021' - Road Map Resources
Including:
New 'Let's Keep Going' Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives creative
New 'Back to School' resources will be live on the Campaign Resource Centre from Saturday 27th February.
Covid-19 Vaccine Comms Pack & Webinar
The Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport have produced a Covid-19 vaccine comms pack to support VCSE sector organisations communicate correct information about the vaccines.
The pack includes:
Guidance and basic explanations answering “what is a vaccine?”
Comms assets and resources on vaccines they can use and share
Vaccine resources for British Sign Language users
Key messages on Covid-19 Vaccine Scams
Misinformation- assets and copy they can use to tackle misinformation on vaccines
You may also re-watch the recording of the ‘Facts about the Covid vaccines: Live webinar’ from 30th Jan.
Follow @HMGNorth for updates.
Health Inequalities in Some of the Most Vulnerable Neighbourhoods
Professor Chris Bentley is a Non-Executive Director at Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust and is also the Chair of the Quality and Safety committee. He is a prominent figure in population health and specialises in health inequalities.
Chris’ recent presentation ‘Place-based approaches to Health Inequalities in the System’s Most Vulnerable Neighbourhoods’ explores how to address some instances of health inequality in Cheshire and Merseyside.
In it’s simplest definition ‘health inequalities’ refers to the health differences across groups and populations which are beyond an individual’s control. However, according to Chris, it is important not to ‘over define’ health inequalities. The current Coronavirus pandemic has accentuated the already prominent disadvantage across certain groups in relation to health, but also housing, food, employment, income etc.
There are certain ways we can intervene:
These segments need to work together to have the greatest impact.
Cheshire and Merseyside have some of the most prolific hospital admissions in its most deprived areas in comparison to the national average. This insight includes admissions that could have been prevented through out of hospital care; this pattern is characteristic of the North West as a region.
Can these emergency admissions be prevented from out of hospital care? And why are some areas able to reduce poor outcomes more successfully than others?
Seemingly, across Cheshire and Merseyside communitiy preventions are not always successful at supporting residents to avoid crises. Chris suggests three ways this can be addressed:
Unwarranted service variation
Community-based interventions and
Service engagement with communities
What is imperative to addressing the excessive hospital admissions in the most deprived neighbourhoods and helping avoidance of crises is bridging the gap betweeen services and communities. There is already a lot of work going on in communities and the health services have often not integrated with the already established and trusted organisations in these communities. Perhaps on a place-basis what we need to do is link primary care networks into these already existing structures, thus harnessing them to bridge the gap between health care and communities.
Systems need to address this issue in order to make a percentage change. Some health systems are already making progress and connecting with communities by working with groups and organisations, however, in others there is still lots of work to be done. This is what the Cheshire and Merseyside partnership will be looking to take forward.
Please watch Chris Bentley’s full presentation. He eloquently explores the above whilst going into more statisitcal detail regarding specific areas of Cheshire and Merseyside.
Greater Manchester Covid Insight Reports
Safely Managing Covid-19: Manchester Population Survey
The impacts of coronavirus across the Greater Manchester population have not been evenly distributed. In order to address the lack of detail in national surveys the Greater Manchester Combined Authority are going to carry out regular research on behalf of their partners, exploring the issues and impacts of Covid-19 across Greater Manchester, including it’s 10 local authorities.
BMG research are using a mixture of monthly online and telephone surveys to collect data from a minimum of 1000 residents in GM, with at least 100 residents in each local authority. Measures are being taken to ensure that respondents reflect the profile of the different areas
Thus far, there have been two surveys:
Survey 1:
Aim: to provide an overview of key issues/barriers/motivations relating to how GM, individual localities and specific parts of the GM population are “living with Covid-19"
Brief Summary of findings:
These groups have been more negatively impacted than others:
Young people, particularly those aged 16-24;
Residents with young children, and particularly those aged 0-4yrs
BME residents overall, but Asian residents in particular;
Muslim residents and those for whom English is not their first language;
Carers, and residents where someone in their household has been told they are at high risk from COVID;
Those with a disability;
Residents that have served in the armed forces;
Those living in the ‘most deprived’ communities of Greater Manchester, among others.
Examples of some of the feelings and concerns due to Covid-19 include:
High levels of worry about the virus, especially amongst those with a disability, children and those in the most deprived neighbourhoods
Worries regarding the economy and future of young people, mental health, education
Many have big concerns affording bills, food, rent, mortgages etc
BAME residents regarded caring for family, those in needs etc a ‘big concern’.
Selection of impacts Covid-19:
Loss of jobs, redundancy (more frequent for 16-24 year olds, students, Asian residents etc), furlough
Many self-employed have seen reduction in work
1 in 14 have used foodbanks (1 in 5 amongst those with children aged 0-4 and ex armed forces).
1 in 10 have had to borrow money
Reports of more support needed widely spread (finding employment, mental health, monetary, childcare)
Survey 2:
Some questions remained the same from survey 1, comparisons made
Aims to understand concerns and impacts of the virus
Also aims to understand residents feelings towards a second national lockdown and thoughts on vaccinations and mass testing
Highlights:
1 in 5 have had coronavirus (only 2/3 have had a positive test)
1 in 3 have had to self-isolate (only small number aware of financial suppot payment during this time)
Levels of concern have increased
Individual concerns increased such as mental health, finances, impacts on children
1 in 10 couldn’t name any of the key symptoms of coronavirus
9 in 10 follows key guidelines for stopping spread of virus
52% feel it is okay to leave house when self-isolating
Faith in restrictions decreasing
68% would take part in community testing, those who wouldn’t not informed
75% likely to get vaccine
Life satisfaction decreased
Health & Social Care Funding Reform
Health and Social Care Funding Reform
The Sunday Telegraph, 22nd November, carried an article from Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, chairman of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee and who’s employment history includes being a minister under Margaret Thatcher’s government. The Telegraph newspaper is a former employer of the current Prime Minister Boris Johnson (he was a columnist in the period immediately prior to winning the election in 2019) and sometimes used as a kite flying venue. It is worth exploring what the article says.
There are two main proposals. Firstly, there should be provision of emergency funding now to meet the growing demand for services and give care workers a much needed pay rise. This is vital in ensuring people get the care they need.
And, then by the end of the parliament there should be a commitment to making care (as opposed to accommodation costs for residential care) ‘free at the point of need’, just like the NHS.
The author then goes on to say:
“Crucially, these changes in funding should be made alongside bold reform in how the system works, with steps taken to join up care with the NHS, and to help keep as many people in their homes for as long as possible.
Of course, all of this will not come cheap.
To deliver these two big changes we will need to spend over half as much again on care as we do today by the end of the parliament. In time this will undoubtedly require us to find additional tax revenue.
But, after decades of underinvestment in care, loosening the purse strings was always going to be required. In truth, the cost of these measures by the end of the parliament would amount to £9bn per year, compared to the furlough scheme which is likely to cost about £6bn per month.
Moreover, investment in social care will not only cost money but save money too by freeing up capacity in the NHS which can be redeployed to deal with the backlog created by the pandemic.”
Those of us with long memories may recall that we have been somewhere near here before. In the Blair years “local strategic partnerships” were encouraged in which all statutory bodies were encouraged to work together to provide joined up services. So, care beds and care provisions were to be made available which would enable “bed blocking” to be resolved. In turn, this would then mean that hospital beds were available for people who needed them – and not care beds. It will be interesting to see if the second proposal gains traction and, if so, how? It is certainly one for the sector to keep an eye on.
The first proposal has financial implications. If there is increased funding it will go to commissioning bodies. They will then have the choice to pass on the additional funding, in the form of increased contract prices linked to remuneration of delivery staff or retaining it to use elsewhere. This is something where there does need to be a sector wide approach. Staff remuneration is a key factor in staff retention. Increases at the lower end of pay structures is a good thing in this regard. However, the danger of a flatter pay structure is that there is less willingness to progress, which may affect working experience in key management roles in the future.
Andrew Rainsford Policy & Research Officer VSNW
To note: The Telegraph operates behind a paywall and therefore access to the article requires membership or signing up for a one month free trial.
Cheshire and Merseyside Health & Social Care VCFSE Leaders Group
A recent meeting of the Cheshire and Merseyside Health & Social Care VCFSE Leaders brought together a range of infrastructure and provider organisations from across the region.
The overall aim of the group is to achieve strategic influence for the Sector and genuine system change. This will be achieved by a mixture of co-ordinated activities such as further strategic meetings; consistent messaging for the Sector on the social value it delivers in communities; and exploring the development of a cohesive engagement strategy with mapped out stakeholders both in localities and the sub-region.
The main topic of discussion was the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership Five Year Strategy, and how the VCFSE sector should influence and respond to this in a co-ordinated fashion. A series of workshops will be taking place in October across Cheshire and Merseyside to generate feedback on what role the VCFSE sector will play in the development and implementation of the strategy. Key contacts and membership organisations across the Sector will be the basis of the feedback body.
At the event, several next steps were proposed, focussing on engagement with relevant organisations and contacts within the VCFSE sector in the Cheshire and Merseyside area to develop robust feedback that will focus on the implementation of the strategy.
These next steps were as follows:
1. VSNW will pull together a ‘plan for a plan’ for VCFSE engagement, leadership and involvement that will be submitted for inclusion in the final strategy.
2. This will be signed off by a developing VCFSE leadership and partnership group that includes leaders from VS6, CVS organisations from across Cheshire and Merseyside, VCFSE ‘Place’ representatives, providers and VCSE equalities networks and organisations.
3. The plan will be circulated via the leadership group and Cheshire and Merseyside CVS.
4. The final 5 Year Strategy will be submitted to NHS England on 15th November 2019.