Case study: Forming a consortium – Voluntary Sector Alliance

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Who are the partners?

  • Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
  • Care Network Cambridgeshire
  • Caring Together

When was the consortium formed?

Formally June 2023, informally October 2022

Why was it formed?

We formed the Voluntary Sector Alliance through a belief that:

Together we are stronger than apart, and together we can create real change and social impact by supporting more people to leave hospital safely, to help avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital and to aid independence at home for the population of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Our aim was to achieve a true integrated and collaborative approach to serving the population of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough by leading the way in providing a Single Point of Access for Voluntary and Community Sector Support for Hospital Discharges and Admissions Avoidance. This helps us to:

Reach people earlier in their journey from hospital bed back to home

Provide information and support at the right time

Ensure wrap around support for people before they leave hospital and after

Using our collective resources support and reconnect people into their communities

What were the first steps?

We came together to work on a Nesta 100 day challenge across the acutes in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, – to find better ways to support discharges from hospital. Following the completion of the challenge, we continued to meet as voluntary sector partners, as we could see that there were ways in which our services already worked in synergy together. Spending time together to understand the offerings of each organisations, we started informally to reach out to one another with the aim of improving outcomes for the people we support.

What are the benefits?

There are many benefits in working together. The people that we support have access to all of our services in a more holistic manner, and don’t feel passed from pillar to post – the aim is that each person we support has access to all of our offerings and to the connections / signposts and referrals we can assist with, helping them to truly feel supported and integrated into their community.

Each organisation represents the whole Alliance at meetings and events and in raising awareness of the services that we offer.

Importantly, our teams report a much more positive working environment, and state how much they enjoy working more collaboratively with people from other organisations, taking away the need to ‘chase referrals’ or feel we are in competition with each other.

What were the main challenges and how did you overcome them?

The main challenges were in the initially stages of coming together. It does take time for trust to form and build and become business as usual within partnership work. It involved somewhat of a culture shift within our organisations, but everyone was fully invested and could see the benefits of our partnership approach.

What are your top 3 tips for any organisations looking to form a consortium?

Look for true synergy between offerings, avoiding duplication, but consider additionality of services.

Be transparent, open and honest with each other, it is important that you can have difficult conversations as well as nice ones.

Stay focussed on the mission and the reasons you want to work together. Leave egos at the door and work together for the benefit of the people you support.

Case study: Forming a consortium – Fullscope

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Fullscope emerged back in 2017 when some funders challenged a group of like-minded charities to come together to think about how to do things differently for children and young people at risk of poor mental health.

We have evolved and changed hugely since then.  See our Strategic Plan for 2023 – 2026 for further information about our current aims and ambitions.

Who are the partners?

Blue Smile, Centre 33, The Kite Trust, YMCA Trinity, Cambridge Curiosity & Imagination, CPSL Mind and Ormiston Families.

What were the first steps?

  • ·During 2018, our founding partners worked to turn their shared vision into a coherent plan, working together and with local consultancy Taproot to review the current landscape for both children and young people’s mental health and consortia models, coproducing a successful application to National Lottery Fund in 2019.
  • ·In June 2021 we asked researchers at UCL School of Management to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the Fullscope consortium to help us to review our work to date and to plan for our next phase of funding and work together.

Fullscope’s work

  • We deliver pilot projects, do research and work closely with other organisations to make the important changes that we believe are needed in children and young people’s mental health
  • The Fullscope core team work closely with the partnership board, our Collaborative steering groups and the wider Fullscope Community, with a focus on our values and approaches.
  • “By working together with partners we are creating a system that fully supports young people, ensures there are no gaps, and enables them to thrive.” – Beth Green, Centre 33.

 What were the main challenges and how did you overcome them?

Early on we adapted to COVID-19 by moving online to engage more with the mental health system. System working can be complex and change can be slow; it requires a focus on relationships and open-minded collaboration, with system partners’ involvement at the decision and design stage.

What are your top 3 tips for any organisations looking to form a consortium?

Have a clear purpose, aligned motivation, core team with mandate and central infrastructure.

 

Board and Trustee Health Alliance Briefing- with Kit Connick

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The Health Alliance held an information session for several trustees/board members from Hunts Forum, PVCS, CCVS and Cambs ACRE. Kit Connick from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board gave a presentation to explain what the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Integrated Care System (ICS) are and what progress has been made so far since its launch on July 22.

At the session, Kit reiterated the ICB’s commitment to actively involve the Voluntary Sector in decision-making at all levels. The Health Alliance which meets monthly gives the Voluntary Sector the opportunity to have a voice and several Health Alliance members sit on some of the ICB boards and committees.

To see the video from the event click here:

Safeguarding policy statement

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The member organisations of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Health Alliance recognise their responsibilities to keep the people who use their services safe from harm and abuse. We are therefore committed to ensuring the highest possible standards of quality and safety in line with the Care Act 2014.

The Health Alliance will work with its statutory partners and funders to ensure that Health Alliance member organisations have robust and effective safeguarding standards and measures in place. Health Alliance organisations deliver a vast range of voluntary and community services and vary hugely in size and capacity. The measures will therefore be proportionate and clearly address the safeguarding requirements of the services they deliver. The infrastructure organisations and Health Alliance team will assist in developing resources that help the sector navigate and more easily understand these requirements.

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