VSNW are recruiting - Treasurer

VSNW is currently searching for a candidate to fulfill the role of Treasurer.

This role requires a candidate to:

• Oversee the financial affairs of the organisation and ensure they are legal, constitutional and within accepted accounting practice.
• Ensure proper records are kept and that effective financial procedures are in place.
• Monitor and report on the financial health of the organisation.
• Work with the Trustee Board’s Resources Group in order to oversee the production of necessary financial reports/returns, accounts and audits.

Activities

• Liaise via, and chair, the Resources Group (comprised of one trustee, Chief Executive and VSNW’s finance associate) to ensure the financial viability of the organisation.
• Make fellow trustees aware of their financial obligations and take a lead in interpreting financial data to them.
• Regularly report the financial position at trustee board meetings (balance sheet, cash flow, fundraising performance, etc).
• Oversee the production of an annual budget and propose its adoption at the last meeting of the previous financial year.
• Ensure proper records are kept and that effective financial procedures and controls are in place
• Appraising the financial viability of plans, proposals and feasibility studies.
• Lead on appointing and liaising with auditors/an independent examiner.

Person Specification

Essential Experience

• Knowledge of financial management.
• Good financial analysis skills.
• Ability to communicate clearly.

Desired Experience

• Knowledge and experience of current and fundraising finance practice relevant to voluntary and community organisations.
• Appreciation of the nature of membership based organisations

Personal Characteristics

• Belief in the value and role of voluntary and community activity
• Passion for positive social change
• Personal alignment with the purpose and values of VSNW

Full details for this role can be found here.

To apply (closing date: 18th August 2017)

To express your interest for this role, please send your CV and a letter of application outlining your suitibality.

Please send CV and application letter to Warren Escadale, Chief Executive: VSNW, St Thomas Centre, Ardwick Green North, Manchester, M12 6FZ or email: warren.escadale@vsnw.org.uk. Potential applicants are welcome to contact current trustees and the Chief Executive; please contact Warren in the first instance: 07753 147664.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to meet the current board on 15th June, St Thomas Centre, between 12.30 and 3.30pm.

Social Purpose Learning in Action Award Winner

Black Toffee Productions – 'Fantastic' – A One Act Play (Bolton)
Peter Carruthers and Laura Lindsay

'Fantastic' is a seventy minute one-act play- which explores themes of mental health, forced treatment, the clinicalisation of human experience and the pressure placed on people to conform to a notion of normal. Set in a dystopian view of the not-too-distant future a new ‘miracle cure’ has been discovered. Simply called, ‘The Implant’, the treatment promises to cure any psychological disorder by electronically ‘normalising’ brain activity. The implant promises a happier life, free from distress and a reassurance of finally fitting in. Aisling (who is a voice hearer) and her brother Joseph (who has Aspergers and is a synesthete), are potential recipients of the new treatment. ‘Fantastic’ depicts their battle to work out if the implant is the scientific advancement they’ve been waiting for, or if it poses a threat to the very thing that makes them human.

This project stemmed from an extensive period of research and interviews with ‘experts by experience’ and clinicians. Rehearsed readings were presented to an invited audience of health professionals, students and those with lived experience. Audience feedback was deemed absolutely fundamental to the play’s development. A full production of 'Fantastic' will run for two weeks in Manchester during November. Ongoing open rehearsals will further support creative engagement and development. A series of post-show Q&As with expert panels will also open up discussion, and a cross-discipline symposium between the arts and health sectors entitled ‘Change of mind: alternative perspectives on mental health and disorders’ is planned.

Nominated by Peter Carruthers

Social Purpose Learning Champion Award Winner

Peter McGarry (Tameside)
Eye Witness Theatre

Pete epitomises social purpose learning in action. He says,’ As I hurtle towards my seventies I feel an ever increasing ambition to write something of value. Although I have had TV, radio and theatre success I am still wrenched towards using my writing to enhance the quality of life for others – rather than gaining recognition in insubstantial, and transitory, conventions of the mainstream.’ Since qualifying as a social worker in 1977 Pete’s career has been underpinned by a series of opportunities that have served as an innovative platform both for development in writing and in the provision of health and social care awareness and training.

His writing has been bound up with his social work practice as a child protection specialist and he has been deeply attracted to the idea of using performance as a theatrical tool for training and learning in child protection/safeguarding arenas. He formed Eye Witness Theatre Company to support the production of theatre based training modules and over the last twenty five years such modules – both as theatre production and film - have been delivered to multiagency professionals not only in the UK and Ireland but also in Australia, US/Canada and across Europe. More recently he adds, ‘Chronological inevitability is directing my ambition, to further develop scripts, scenarios and plays with inter-active workshops not only for training and awareness for professionals but for older people too. Such modules have, so far, been instrumental in engendering dialogue between professionals in adult social care and older people’.

Nominated by Nell Corrin

Digital Innovation in Health Care Award Winner

Validate Your Care (V-Care) - Library and E-Learning Service
The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Validate Your Care (V-Care) is a powerful knowledge assurance tool for those working in adult acute care, facilitating a flexible approach to learning and development. It aims to provide an evidence-based, one stop, user friendly on-line learning portal to support busy nurses; to assess, develop and assure themselves of their knowledge across core areas of fundamental nursing care. It has provided an opportunity to assure the public and other stakeholders that its nursing workforce is up-to-date, and practising caring and compassionate evidence based care. It is accessible at any time in or out of the trust, on any device. Completion of the programme takes between 2–10 hours and it is structured around three modules:

• Recognition and management of the deteriorating adult
• Care of older people in health care settings
• Evidence based acute medical and surgical nursing care

The V-Care team developed core resources in conjunction with a leading professor of nursing, who worked closely with subject matter experts, working in the trust to develop subject specific content that was up to date, and relevant to current training practices within the trust. Verification was sought by scoping local and national policy directives and through a survey of senior nurses across Greater Manchester. The resulting programme engenders the 6 C’s, reduces duplication of the requirements of some mandatory training, uses the best available evidence and supports nurses to prepare for the professional revalidation requirements from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The team now hope to roll V-Care out to other clinical areas and other NHS organisations.

Nominated by John Bramwell

Asset Based Approaches to Community Development Award Winner

Community Links (Lancashire)
Rossendale Enterprise Anchor Limited (REAL)

REAL (Rossendale Enterprise Anchor Limited) is an exemplary model of asset based approaches in community development. REAL works with and for the communities of the Rossendale Valley by supporting and increasing the capacity of the voluntary, community and faith sectors (VCFS), by further developing partnerships within public and private sectors in order to help make Rossendale a better place to live, work and visit. The trustees are all social entrepreneurs who are passionate about the area. Founding member Dorothy Mitchell says there are a number of aspects of REAL work which adds to the community impact:

Community Links is a highly accessible, central repository of resources to promote wellbeing which highlights the role of social prescribing opportunity (non-medical interventions). It uses ‘fun, food and friendship with a health benefit’ to support ‘doing things which can become a good habit’. Encompassing over 400 organisations it provides ‘simple cost effective solutions’ which improve wellbeing and drive up community resilience.

REAL Involvement helps groups and individuals take part in their community. This includes practical information sessions, share and tell events, a weekly news bulletin, befriending services and a community minibus. The team supports consultation processes so that the people in Rossendale have a voice in what happens to them. They help start up groups, find funds and share information. They advise small groups wanting to start up social enterprises or to form a charity. REAL Involvement is run by older people voluntarily sharing their learning experience to help Rossendale thrive.

Nominated by Dorothy Mitchell

Joint Asset Based Community Development Runners Up

Hyde Community Action – Women Supporting Women

Court Thorn Surgery PPG – Transforming Lives through Community Health Seminars.

This Award was sponsored by VSNW.

Widening Participation in Health and Care Project Award Winner

Traineeship Programme (Merseyside)
NHS Liverpool Clinical Laboratories

Liverpool Clinical Laboratories (LCL) is a multidisciplinary NHS pathology service, jointly owned by the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals and University Hospitals Aintree, developed to provide high quality diagnostic and autopsy services as well as specialist pathology services. They welcomed their first traineeship students in 2017 as part of a bid to use NHS leverage to promote social mobility and to create a sustainable workforce for the future, whilst getting young people interested in careers in healthcare science. A thirteen week course delivered in partnership with Wirral Met College, combines classroom based learning and on the job training, with the aim of enhancing students CV’s and furthering their career options after school or college. Students are taught how to receive and check blood and tissue samples and perform laboratory reception duties, giving them the skills and experience which could help them go on to apply for a job as a healthcare science assistant.

Dave Eccleston, Head of Modernising Scientific Careers at LCL says,’ The course is an opportunity to not only show young people the range of rewarding and valued careers in the NHS, but to give them skills and experience to make their CV stand out from the crowd. By offering a high quality work experience placement at the end of the training, students boost their chances of getting paid employment and improve their career prospects, whether that’s with us or with other NHS organisations.’ The project has evolved to ensure it is fully inclusive of the local community.

Nominated by Nicholas Fowler-Johnson

Widening Participation in Health and Care Project Runner-up

Widening Participation and CSR – Salford Royal Foundation Trust

Supporting Learners Award Winner

Supporting Bereaved Relatives - Royal Lancaster Infirmary
University Hospital Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT)

This unique training package was initially devised to support porters when collecting a deceased patient to take them to the mortuary. The project focused on ensuring porters felt knowledgeable and confident in their roles and as a result bereaved relatives would feel more supported. The objective was to ensure porters were able able to converse with family members sensitively even in the most difficult circumstances. This training was also part of a response to the Better Endings report (NIHR 2015) which highlighted the need to improve end of life care.

After a period of consultation a pilot workshop was developed, which has since been extended to include other non-clinical staff. This targeted and flexible training was both factual and practical in content, delivered in tandem by a specialist bereavement nurse and project lead, Helen O’Neil, the education facilitator. Importantly it allowed staff to share their experiences, whilst UHMBT learnt how impactful training with small groups can be on service delivery. UHMBT also realised how much staff appreciated the training investments, and soon realised how much staff appreciated the training investments. The trust is now very clear about the integral role nonclinical staff play in supporting patients and relatives at the end of life. Although the initial focus was on increasing porter confidence and knowledge it has changed practice too, refocusing attention on what was actually happening on wards by highlighting simple, often minor steps to build better practice.

Nominated by Janet Thorpe

HEE Ingenuity Award Winner

Singing For People With Long Term Illnesses
Inspire Social Enterprise

Inspire is a social enterprise developed by professional musicians, educators and researchers. Inspire grew out of a HEFCE ‘Do It’ award at the University of Manchester. This award aimed to encourage people with long term conditions to become actively involved in singing and music as a way of improving personal resilience, independence and self-care. Work to date has concentrated on people with respiratory disease and aphasia (communication difficulties following strokes etc.) Inspire’s pioneering work has focused on developing singing models that are tailored to the needs and expectations of people with a variety of long term conditions. This work has included establishing a network of singing groups for the North West; fostering independence and building in sustainability for initiatives; evaluating the physical and psychological benefits of singing groups and ultimately understanding the cost effectiveness and social value of this type of social prescribing activity.

Being part of a choir enables members to learn a wide variety of new skills e.g. new songs; rhythm and harmony as well as learning vital breath control. From the outset choir members are taught performance techniques and how to sing in public. The choirs have relished the opportunity of performing to a wide variety of audiences and venues including the Royal College of Music in London and the Lowry Theatre. Choir members have also been invited to speak at a variety of meetings about their condition and the many health benefits of participating in a choir, including a workshop at the 2016 International Festival for Public Health in Manchester.

Nominated by Dr Adam Garrow

Ingenuity Project Award Runner Up

Dadly Does It – Chris Dabbs – Unlimited Potential, Salford and Rochdale

HEE Innovation Award Winner

The Greater Manchester Genomics Education Programme
Manchester Centre for Genomic Education, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The 100,000 Genome Project is an ambitious, transformational healthcare project that allies cutting edge science and technology, clinical care and research. The initiative involves collecting and decoding 100,000 human genomes – complete sets of people’s genes – (DNA) – to enable scientists and doctors to understand more about specific conditions. Understanding DNA and how it can predict and prevent disease, provide a precise diagnosis and direct targeted treatment is a key component of personalised care. One of thirteen centres nationally ambitiously promoting whole genome sequencing and establishing the city as a key player in a national healthcare system.

Dr Glenda Beaman the project education training lead has trail blazed; working with expert patients and clinical staff to jointly develop and deliver a multi-faceted, education and training programme designed to provide healthcare professionals across Greater Manchester with the knowledge and confidence to refer in to the project. This has involved establishing Genomic Cafes, grand rounds in hospitals, training for GPs and educational session for every foundation year doctor, plus regular talks at nursing forums; as well as significant patient and public engagement events to raise awareness. This work has impacted significantly on the number of genome referrals. Professor Newman said,’ More people have been reached in one year than the previous twenty years’, with over 10,000 direct contacts.

Nominated by Professor Bill Newman