Healthy & Home: Embedding the VCFSE in Hospital Discharge
A new video telling the story and achievements of the Warrington and Halton “Healthy & Home” has been produced, highlighting the difference the project has made in people’s lives and the important role of the VCFSE sector within hospital discharge services.
Delivered by Warrington Voluntary Action and Halton & St Helens VCA, Healthy & Home is a two year project funded by NHS Charities Together in collaboration with Warrington and Halton Hospital Trust. The model ensures that VCFSE organisations are fully involved in the discharge process as valued and trusted partners. The service is coordinated through VCFSE hospital discharge link workers based within the hospitals discharge hub, assisting with arranged packages of support for patients going home, from simple practical tasks to complex specialised support.
The model provides VCFSE support at the right time, with support in place for timely hospital discharges and upon arriving home to enable people to live more independent in their own homes and reduce the likelihood of readmission.
Healthy & Home has recorded some significant outcomes including:
· Within a 12 month “snapshot”, 76% of people referred to Healthy & Home did not re-appear in A&E
· Potential cost savings of between £145,520 (Based on each individual having one visit to an urgent care centre with minimal investigation) and £1.3 million (Based on each individual requiring an ambulance to A&E on one occasion, with complex investigations upon arrival).
· In one case alone, a saving of £72,000 (equal to the cost of 2 VCFSE Link workers for 12 months) was made when a Healthy and Home personal care plan for a patient was delivered via VCFSE Link workers.
The Healthy & Home project in Warrington and Halton has highlighted how multi-agency work with the VCFSE sector can be transformed to deliver positive outcomes for communities, improve quality of life, reduce lengthy hospital stays and prevent re-admission. Similar projects across the North West are also reporting positive outcomes, such as Cumbria CVS’s “Third Sector Referral Co-ordinator Team” delivered in partnership with VCFSE organisations in the region.
The success of these models clearly highlight the benefits of the VCFSE sector being equitable partners within the design and delivery of health and care services and working together to make the best use of resources at a regional and place-based level, as well as providing quality care to services users.
Work supported by VSNW featured in NHS VCSE Engagement Framework
NHS England has published a framework for addressing practical barriers to integration of voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations in integrated care systems. The framework supports leaders in integrated care systems (ICSs), NHS providers, local authorities, and VCSE organisations to recognise and address challenges and barriers that have an impact on their ability to integrate VCSE organisations as system partners.
The framework is organised into three sections,
1. A list of challenges and barriers that are commonly experienced when trying to work in partnership with, and when integrating, VCSE and statutory provision and activities.
2. A list of ‘approaches’ that highlight what people have done to improve things together in relation to each of the above areas.
3. A series of case examples which provide more detail on the practical actions that people took within local systems when implementing approaches to integrating the VCSE sector and which take account of the overall journey and context.
The barriers and challenges are organised in relation to three key areas of integration: Commissioning and strategic planning, including the role of the VCSE sector in service design and delivery. Sharing data, intelligence, and insight, including using VCSE data to inform population health management and social prescribing. Within the case studies, VSNW’s support for VCSE engagement with the Cheshire and Merseyside ICS and work on the Greater Manchester VCSE Commissioning Framework are highlighted.
The framework was commissioned as an independent resource and published by the NHS England Voluntary Partnerships Team and produced by Shilpa Ross, Helen Gilburt, Clair Thorstensen-Woll and Nick Downes at the King’s Fund.
The framework can be read here https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/a-framework-for-addressing-practical-barriers-to-integration-of-vcse-organisations-in-integrated-care-systems.
NHS guidance on partnership with VCSE organisations can be read here https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/part-rel/voluntary-community-and-social-enterprises-vcse.
Read the thoughts of one of the framework authors here https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2023/04/partnership-working-vcse-ics.
Meet Rev Canon Dr Ellen Loudon, the Co Vice-Chair of the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership (HCP)
Hello, my name is Ellen Loudon - I am the independent chair of VS6. I have worked as a senior leader within the VCFSE for a number of years. Currently, I am the Director of Social Justice at the Diocese of Liverpool and Canon Chancellor at Liverpool Cathedral. I also chair a number of charitable boards such as Together Liverpool and Liverpool Diocesan Council for Social Aid and Micah Liverpool. I live in the shadow of Liverpool Cathedral with my two dogs - Holly and Tig.
I am pleased to have been appointed Co Vice-Chair of the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership as I see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to seek change together. Addressing inequalities and advocating for social justice is what I am most enthusiastic about and is at the heart of the work I do. I have extensive experience of chairing regional boards that address and tackle inequalities such as the Liverpool City Region Fairness and Social Justice Advisory Board (FASJAB) on behalf of Steve Rotherham.
Through my role as Co Vice-Chair, I will be representing the VCFSE sector and joining Health and Care Partnership (HCP) colleagues in Cheshire and Merseyside to explore ways in which we can address the conditions that cause health and care inequalities. I am dedicated to ensuring that my role will be used to change the way we tackle these issues in a collaborative, fully integrated partnership. What is of particular interest to me is how the VCFSE can be an innovative leader in this work to make Cheshire and Merseyside fairer and more just.
I will be joining the next Cheshire and Merseyside VCFSE Health and Care Leaders Group meeting alongside Raj Jain (Chair). This is an opportunity for me to listen to the sector and make sure these voices are heard in the HCP. I am looking forward to hearing from the VCFSE sector representatives – about their hopes for the HCP and the role they want to play in the future of health and care across Cheshire and Merseyside.
Further Reading:
· https://www.vs6partnership.org.uk/aboutvs6
· https://togetherliverpool.org.uk/
· https://www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/governance/fairness-social-justice-advisory-board/
· https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/what-are-health-inequalities
VSNW Commissions Dave Packwood to Establish a Cheshire and Merseyside VCFSE Children and Young People Network
VSNW Commissions Dave Packwood to Establish a Cheshire and Merseyside VCSFE Children and Young People Network.
VSNW is pleased to announce that Dave Packwood has been commissioned to develop and establish a VCFSE Children and Young People’s Network in Cheshire and Merseyside.
This network will maximise the capacity of the local sector and influence the work of the Cheshire and Merseyside’s Integrated Health and Care System. It will provide an opportunity to share good practice, build relationships and network, identify common concerns and opportunities, and promote the local sector’s role in improving the lives of children and young people, including early years, in Cheshire and Merseyside.
Members of this network will also have the opportunity to shape the work of Cheshire and Merseyside NHS workstreams and boards. This includes the Children and Young People Transformation Board, and Cheshire & Merseyside’s Barnardo’s-Health Equity Institute pilot (see links below).
The network will meet online, six times a year. If you would like to get involved in the network email dave.packwood@vsnw.org.uk
Dave has worked within the voluntary sector for over 30 years, with positions in small local voluntary organisations, regional organisations and large national charities. Dave has been involved in facilitating a number of networks and Forums including the North West Children and Young Peoples Network which ran for 12 years from 2006 – 2018. Dave has a BA and MA in Youth Work as well as a Diploma in Management Studies and is a Level 5 qualified Executive Coach. He has also worked as an Additional OFSTED Inspector for Youth work and Voluntary Sector Advisor for Government Office North West. Dave now works as a VCS Consultant around Funding and Commissioning, organizational development and providing coaching for Chief Executives and Senior Managers.
Further Reading
· Appointment of new chair for the Children and Young People’s Transformation Board
VSNW Gains Living Wage Accreditation
VSNW is delighted to announce that we are now accredited as a Living Wage Employer. Our work covers the North West, a region with nearly a fifth of all jobs (18.4%) paying less than the real Living Wage - around 534,000 jobs. Despite this, we have committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.
The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the costs of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the government minimum. Since 2011 the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to almost 400,000 people and put over £2 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.
Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said: “We’re delighted that VSNW has joined the movement of almost 11,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.
“They join thousands of small businesses, as well as household names such as Burberry, Barclays, Everton Football Club and many more. These businesses recognise that paying the real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like VSNW, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay."