Congratulations to the winners of the Health Inequalities Challenge Prize.

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On 22nd November at the Brampton Park Golf Club, statutory partners, voluntary and community groups of all sizes and supporters of the work charitable organisations can do to support the health services met to celebrate some fantastic ideas as part of the Health Inequalities Challenge Prize.

Now in its second year, the Health Inequalities Challenge Prize aims to offer local community groups and organisations the opportunity to compete for funding to help address the inequalities felt by those communities across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. This year, the focus was on personalised care – giving local people more control over, and say, in their health and care.

There were eight finalists this year, and each received £4,000 to deliver the shortlisted proposal they put forward. Then, at the award ceremony on the 22nd, those organisations that received additional investment were announced.

Hunts Community Cancer Network (HCCN) received the first prize of £20,000 of investment to help support people living with cancer and their loved ones. They plan on using this funding to expand their service, empowering those they work with to improve their quality of life through tools, information and activities, which they hope will improve their chance of recovery.

High Heritage, a charity that works with children and young people from black and ethnic minorities, received second place (£10,000). they will use this funding to develop their service around empowering young people facing grief and loss.

The final place went to Steel Bones, who help those with amputations and those around them. They received £6,000 to develop and improve their services.

Support Cambridgeshire want to thank all those who took part and applied. Julie Farrow, CEO at Hunts Forum said: ” It was an immense pleasure to be part of the award ceremony and listen to all  the finalists;  it demonstrated the huge amount of work the voluntary and community sector is doing in our community and the possibilities of future possibles of working with healthcare.” 

Health Alliance Meeting – 18th October 2023

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Chaired by Sandie Smith (Programme Director) 

 

Sandie welcomed everyone to the meeting and talked through the updates to the action log.

 

Programme Director update 

Sandie updated the group on some support that is being offered to Cambs and Peterborough through NAVCA to support the Health Alliance development. We will get six days of support from Amie Cole (who came in the early stages of the Alliance to help set it up). Many of you will have met her previously.  

Andrea Grosbois explained that there have been some other monies available which they hope to tie up together and use to help produce a Quality Development Tool as part of its use. The aim is to include backfill costs to allow Alliance members to participate. 

Sandie explained that as part of the development, we are keen to get the branding for the Health Alliance right. There will be a survey going out to all organisations from PVCS, Hunt’s Forum and CCVS to collect opinions. Please take time to complete. https://forms.office.com/e/A3AQD3UjWg 

Sandie will collate the replies and there will be a workshop in late November to take this further. Once the date is set we will give a call out for interested parties. 

Sandie and Julie Farrow fed back on the Outcomes Framework workshops they had attended. In the first session, four people from the Health Alliance attended and 10 voluntary sector groups attended the second one.  

All that attended felt the meetings were of value. Health is moving from Health to Health inequalities and the voluntary sector is in a good position to report on this. They felt it was good to take a step into the NHS world for a change and with the minimal presence of social care the voluntary sector was able to fill in some of the gaps. 

 

Influencing 

Miriam Martin fed back on the Improvement and Reform, Commissioning and Investment Committee. This meeting is now a merger of two meetings so is four hours long. She reported that often the papers for the meeting arrive the Friday afternoon a week before the meeting. As they are often 400 pages or more wading through what is relevant and where she can make comments is difficult. 

However, Miriam reported she has enjoyed being at this meeting and has learnt a lot. She is able to make sure the voluntary sector is considered and it’s good to know what is coming up. 

She feels it might be difficult to add an item to their agenda. 

Sharon Allen fed back on the People Board- Sharon and a colleague attend some of the various subgroups of this committee. These include EQDI, Retainment and Recruitment, Education, and Accommodation. They attend where it’s possible and relevant. 

There has been a big focus on “One Workforce” however this is difficult due to the variation in terms and conditions. Sharon plans to meet with a new person who will be looking at staff benefits. 

A question was raised about accessibility of meetings- How do people access the decision makers and raise what the barriers to engagement are? 

Andrea has a list of questions to take back to the ICB and will raise this too. 

Julie Farrow said previously she had done a governance review and had raised the issue around the length of papers, and lateness of them arriving, and had suggested that somewhere it could be highlighted what the essential read for the meeting was.  

Hunts Forum and CCVS have received funding from ICB. Hunts Forum is leading on the influencing and has a training programme available to people who would like to be a rep in the future but want a bit of training/support. This is free and open to all. Please let Sandie, Debbie or Julie know if you are interested. 

It was asked how we let users of services know what is happening. The monthly bulletin that Sandie produces is something that could be shared widely. The ICS also produce a slide deck with information and updates. 

Next year there are plans to have a participation summit. It would be useful too to have an ‘insight bank’ for people when report writing. There is a commitment to get the service user voices heard and Health Alliance members are in a good position to collect these. 

 

Data 

Michael and Rachel from Cambs CAB earlier in the year worked with Healthwatch to test what could be done with collated data. Within the voluntary sector, different data is collected but there could be some common ground. If this could be matched to some of the data statutory bodies use, particularly health this would be useful for planning. 

Michael is now keen to hear from organisations that have data they are willing to share and is looking for people to be part of a working group to develop this. 

Contact Michael directly if you are interested michaelm@cambridgecab.org.uk. 

A question was asked about how organisations could showcase the pieces of work they have been doing with health. There could be an opportunity for stories to be shared in the ICB newsletters/updates. 

The group were asked if they had any health-related stories they would like to share they could share with Sandie or Debbie. 

 

Procurement 

Julie talked about the changes that will be coming in around procurement for services. The papers are going to parliament in early Spring however those for Health are coming into effect in December. There is bound to be some overlap with new contracts so organisations may find they may get extensions to contracts as well as having to work to old and new rules. Further detail here: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/transforming-public-procurement 

 

AOB 

Support Cambridgeshire have launched a volunteer portal Volunteer Cambs. 

Organisations are being offered the opportunity to add their volunteering opportunities to the site. The site will be launched to the public next year however they can use it too at the moment. Visit the site  Volunteer Cambs 

There is plenty of support being offered to organisations/ groups to get their details on the site and there will be a workshop on 31st October too. If you are interested in a workshop sign up here. 

Sharon mentioned the Above Difference culture change programme (something the Local People Board have been working on) 

 

The first Cohort is aimed at CEOs and Chief Officers, the voluntary sector has three places allocated, and there have been two expressions of interest so anyone interested, please let Sharon Allen know ASAP. There will be two further cohorts so there are other opportunities for the voluntary sector to engage.  Sharon.Allen@arhc.org.uk 

Sharon also mentioned the Springboard. Springboard is an award-winning personal development programme for women who want to take control over their lives, become more assertive, increase their confidence and build themselves a more positive attitude in both their work and home lives. 

The sessions are held in St Ives- there is a cost to the programme and you will be expected to attend all dates- for more info and booking:- 

https://forms.office.com/e/6hrYjgL9qJ 

 

 Next Meetings 

6th December 1-3 pm on Zoom 

17th January 1-3 March Library 

VCSE Health Alliance – Update Bulletin – November 2023

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November 2023

 The Future of the Health Alliance

We are delighted to be receiving some support from NAVCA (the national voluntary sector support organisation) to help us develop to the next stage of our partnership. Some of you may remember Aimie Cole who helped shape the first stages of the Alliance. We now have six more days of Aimie’s time to help us think about and plan our future. This will be supported by a small amount of funding from NHS England and Assura, a national grant-making Trust.

Our Partnership Development Group are planning how this will progress. If you are interested in shaping our future please do step forward and join this group. Contact Sandie to find out more. There will be more opportunities to get involved as the work moves on.

 

A new name and a new brand

You will have received a survey asking for your views on the Health Alliance and how this could look in the future. The findings from this engagement exercise will influence a new name and a new brand for our partnership. Please take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to complete it. The information will also be used as a basis for our development plans. The survey is here.

 

Volunteering opportunities online

Volunteers are the lifeblood of all community groups and charities but recruiting them is increasingly challenging. That’s why the Support Cambridgeshire partnership has just launched Volunteer Cambs, a website that offers features beyond just promoting volunteer opportunities. They are currently looking for groups to sign up and start promoting their opportunities so that there is content for the more prominent promotion campaign to the public in early 2024. Support Cambridgeshire is also offering a range of support and workshops to groups for them to get the most from their experience of the site. Read more here.

 

Explaining the Integrated Care System

The Integrated Care System and all the supporting structures and names are incredibly confusing. We have recorded a presentation given by Kit Connick, from the ICB, explaining how it all works. Click here to watch the video

 

Integrated Care Board publicity

Do you have an ICB-funded project or service that you would like to showcase? The ICB are keen to include more voluntary sector work in their newsletter. Please contact Sandie if you would like to take up this offer. You will need to provide a summary of the work, the difference it makes and preferably a weblink, a quote and/or photo or two.

 

Household Support

Colleagues at Cambridgeshire County Council are keen to hear from voluntary sector groups and organisations about their views on the Household Support Fund. It takes a few minutes and will increase understanding of the support needed by local people. The closing date is Friday 3 November 2023. The survey is here.

 

Adults safeguarding conference

This year’s Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Conference is on 21st November and will focus on partnership. The voluntary sector are particularly welcome to attend. You can find out more and register by following this link:

Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Conference 2023 | Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Partnership Board (safeguardingcambspeterborough.org.uk)

 

Health Alliance meetings

Here are the dates of our future meetings, please do put them in your diary. If you would like to suggest a theme please contact sandie@huntsforum.org.uk. We are also keen to get members to Co-Chair meetings on their theme of interest.

  • 6th December 1-3pm Health inequalities               Zoom
  • 17th January 1-3 Health Alliance business     March Library
  • 28th February 9.30-11.30 Theme to confirm               Zoom
  • 17th April 1-3 Health Alliance business    Peterborough
  • 22nd May 10-12 Theme to confirm               St Ives Corn Exchange

See here for more information about the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Health Alliance. You can also find the notes from the October Health Alliance meeting on this page.

 

Spread the word!

Last but not least, please pass this newsletter on to your team and other groups and organisations who may not yet be Health Alliance members. Anyone wishing to join should email Debbie Debbie@huntsforum.org.uk.

 

Summary of Voluntary Sector Representation from Boards/ Committees Attended

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QUALITY PERFORMANCE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

23rd June- Rachel Talbot

There has been an increase in referrals to paediatric services for preschool children along with an increase in need for children with complex needs. As well as this there are long waiting lists for speech and language therapy.

There is still concern about the number of inappropriate out-of-area mental health placements with work being done to reduce these.

The dementia tour bus that visited care homes across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough earlier in the year was a great success.

27th July- Rachel Talbot

There has been a reduction in turnover of staff since the beginning of the year. Mental Health nursing however had seen an increase in turnover.

A discussion took place about the Learning Disability Health Needs assessment. There was a list of recommendations however with lack of funding these may be difficult to implement.

Ambulance handover time has improved and is being sustained and is now the best in the region.

PEOPLE BOARD AND SUBGROUPS

12 July -Education and Development workshop ARCH representation

The Oliver McGowan training the ability to recruit the right amount of staff and the cost of training were discussed.

Background-the- The Health and Care Act 2022 introduced a requirement that regulated service providers must ensure their staff receive Learning Disability and Autism training appropriate to their role. The suggested training is the Oliver McGowan training.

17 July- Leadership and OD subgroup- Sharon Allen

There is a shift in focus from NHS from Serious Incident Review to Patient Safety Incident Reporting Framework (PSIRF). Understanding what within the organisational system led to an adverse outcome. All NHS and commissioned organisations have to introduce PSIRF and Arthur Rank are doing this.

Sharon had taken part in the System Change Consulting Programme (a Health Education England-funded programme) and she fed back at the meeting. The programme had several modules and they are now available online.

https://eoe.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/development-support/system-leadership/system-od-and-transformation-learning-modules/

The Leading Beyond Boundaries training had 78 nominations including several from Health Alliance members and all have been offered a place.

If organisations undertake staff feedback and are willing to share results and action plans contact Sharon Allen or Anita Pisani

COMMISSIONING, INVESTMENT AND IMPROVEMENT AND REFORM COMMITTEE

18TH August – Michael Firek

Someone to Talk To- Young people’s Mental Health Service the ICB has agreed to continue to fund this service until June 26. It is a jointly commissioned piece of work with Cambridgeshire County Council and supports young people 13-25 with complex mental health needs. The service is currently delivered by Centre 33.

Continuing healthcare efficiency plan- A plan has been received and approved to reimplement clinical tier rates for nursing care beds. A revised and simplified set of rates has been discussed with providers to manage costs and be more reflective of the client’s needs.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICS Outcomes Framework- work is continuing on this. The intention of the framework is to encompass patient and user experience as well as workforce, culture and leadership elements alongside clinical, care and service outcomes.

PA Consulting- These were engaged on Feb 23 to develop a resource model informed by population health, outcomes and the health economic value of change. Work is currently under way to develop logic models that will help the system to assess the economic benefits of different interventions.

Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS) Review- more than £183m of funding goes into Mental Health and Learning Disability and Autism services. The ICB has done a deep dive review of expenditure for 22/23 to understand the activity, quality, experience, performance and value for money of the services provided for the local population. Several learning points were identified.

Continuing funding for 23/24 was agreed upon. There was a recommendation to pursue 3-year contracts with Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations who were delivering services funded by the Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS) or the Service Development Fund.

VCSE Health Alliance – Update Bulletin – October 2023

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October 2023

Help with your workforce

The Health Alliance meeting in September focussed on the workforce. Sharon Allen, CEO of Arthur Rank Hospice and our rep on the ICB People’s Board, co-chaired the meeting and facilitated the involvement of ICB colleagues. Those who came along were able to hear about the ICB commitment to ‘One Workforce’ and discuss how we make this work for our sector. A key to this will be to explore how we collect and share data.

 

We also learnt that VCSE organisations will be able to equally access ICB initiatives that are being put in place to help recruitment and retention – watch this space for more details. We will be taking forward the agreed actions and revisiting them at a future meeting.

 

Question: Can your organisation or group contribute some very simple headline data about your workforce? This will help the ICB understand our sector and see us as integral to health and care provision.

Contact debbie@huntsforum.org.uk

 

Since the meeting, we have been notified of an opportunity for VCSE organisations to participate in a work and health employers conference next spring. The idea is to bring together examples of great practice and discuss the issues employers experience in supporting staff wellbeing. This will contribute to the ICS work, health and wellbeing strategy. To find out more email Nicola Ward: nicola.ward68@nhs.net

 

Smaller organisations and community groups

As we all know our sector is incredibly diverse; in size, communities supported, services provided and geography. This is the richness that makes the sector so very valuable but at the same time, brings a challenge around partnership. How can we meaningfully engage with the broad spectrum that is the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector? If you are a small group, we want to hear your ideas and how we can work better for you.

Contact sandie@huntsforum.org.uk

 

Social prescribing and JOY app improvements

The findings from the social prescribing survey have been combined with feedback from members and written up as a report. This is now being shared with ICB colleagues to identify and progress a number of improvements. The Health and Wellbeing Network will continue its information sessions to help us connect with social prescribers and improve our understanding of the app.

The next Health and Wellbeing Network meeting is on 17th October from 12-1pm on zoom. Megan McGrath will be talking about the JOY app. Join the meeting to find out more about the app and how participating can benefit your organisation. To reserve a place please use the link below (note we have moved to Microsoft Forms).

https://forms.office.com/e/eJdZmdeNDY

 

Project proposals, please!

We all know how frustrating it is to receive notice of funding with short turnaround times. That’s why we have sent around a project proposal form. This will help us compile a bank of ready-to-go projects. Please complete and return with your ideas. We’ll keep this open until the end of November and then take stock of what you have sent us.

 

Health Alliance meetings

Here are the dates of our future meetings, please do put them in your diary. We have tried to get a mix of times, locations and formats to enable as many people as possible to get involved. You’ll see that we are alternating themes with the general Health Alliance business.

 

A number of members have requested a meeting focussing on health inequalities and this has been scheduled for December. If you would like to suggest a theme please contact sandie@huntsforum.org.uk. We are also keen to get members to Co-Chair meetings on their theme of interest.

  • 18th October 9.30-11.30 Health Alliance business     Zoom
  • 6th December 1-3pm Health inequalities               Zoom
  • 17th January 1-3 Health Alliance business     March Library
  • 28th February 9.30-11.30 Theme to confirm               Zoom
  • 17th April 1-3 Health Alliance business    Peterborough
  • 22nd May 10-12 Theme to confirm               St Ives Corn Exchange

More members, please!

And lastly, please pass this newsletter on to your team and other groups and organisations who may not yet be Health Alliance members. Anyone wishing to join should email Debbie Debbie@huntsforum.org.uk.

See here for more information about the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Health Alliance. (You’ll see we have updated our webpage please do let us have any feedback)

Health Alliance Meeting – 13th September

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This month’s Health Alliance meeting was held at Cambourne Hub and was chaired by Sandie Smith and Sharon Allen.

From the work Sharon has been doing with the People Board a Workforce Development theme had been decided for this meeting and guests from the ICB were invited.

Rebecca Tuten- System Workforce Planner

Ade Tams- Deputy Chief People Officer/ Director of Workforce.

Emily Handley

Sharon gave an introduction on Workforce Development and discussed that data that is in the voluntary sector has not generally been aggregated although the Health Alliance have made a start on this. The NHS already have a good system for collecting their data. Because of the data from the voluntary sector is not included/ considered in planning this is not showing the whole system position.

Rebecca Tuten

The State of the Sector survey that came out recently is a useful first insight into voluntary sector. Is there a way that some of the data that is collected going forward able to match the data criteria that NHS are using? If so what do the voluntary sector feel is a realistic ask? What would be useful to both parties.

The Health Alliance members felt that some basic data would be useful but there needs to be recognition that

  • Not all organisations are commissioned.
  • Commissioners ask for data but where is it used?
  • The State of Sector survey did not get information from all of the voluntary sector and some are not involved in health or care.
  • The organisations need to build trust that the data they are sharing is useful/ needed and working to the benefit of all but particularly the service users.
  • What access to the data can the voluntary sector expect if they are contributing.

It was agreed that Sandie would do some work with Rebecca to see what would be a reasonable ask, how the data can be collected and used. It was agreed that “punchy statements” need to be written as to why organisations would be involved.

 

Ade Tams

Ade talked about the position of the ICS with vacancies. The hospitals use bank staff to fill some of the gaps with a small amount of agency staff- this is one of the lowest rates in England.

In primary care there has been a reduction of GPs by 6% but nursing staff has increased.

All PCNs are being asked how they plan to expand their services.

The ICB needs to understand how to encourage people to use the voluntary sector offer.

A 15 year forecast for workforce has been done but it does not include social care.

 

Emily Handley

Emily explained that work was being done with Anglia Ruskin University to help deliver a health and care workforce and 2 “attraction projects” are going to be delivered.

Just R– Sustainable workforce solutions- is a bolt on recruitment company. Some passive recruitment and expand the campaign to how to attract volunteers and to look at talent pools for organisation.

It was suggested that the new volunteering portal could benefit from this. Sandie will ensure that those developing the portal are aware of this opportunity.

 

Working and breaking barriers- a project based around employment to improve health outcomes. This aims to support people back into work or enable them to remain in work. There are 8 pilot areas.

Health Alliance members discussed higher vacancy rates than health locally, the reduction in volunteers and the changing face of volunteering and that the terms and conditions that NHS offer are difficult to match in the VCSE sector.

Ade talked about a pilot scheme to help with recruitment and retention. This is at phase 1 at present and a briefing is due. Phase 2 to cover shared/rotating roles. The HA will be kept informed. A new worker is about to start so Ade will ensure she is linked in with Sandie.

Ade confirmed that the VCSE sector would be very welcome partners in all of these initiatives.

 

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

Ade-Above Difference is a collaboration to discuss and look at discrimination with goal to produce culture change within the system and make it a safer place for all.

Sharon-Skills for Care are developing a social care Race Equality Scheme which maybe more relevant for the VCSE- this opens soon.

Kat (Barnardos) discussed the Maternity Equity Hub and the work that had been done to improve maternity experiences including looking at how staff recruitment took place. This has had some positive impacts and Kat will share a case study with Sharon to take to the People Board.

VCSE Health Alliance – Update Bulletin – September 2023

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September 2023

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough VCSE Health Alliance Bulletin 

 

Focus on workforce 

Every health and care organisation is struggling to find and keep workforce. The VCSE sector is no exception to this. The CEO Network has had many discussions on this topic and now, at its September meeting, the Health Alliance will be exploring how we can help organisations with these challenges. 

Sharon Allen, CEO at Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, is the Health Alliance rep on the ICB People’s Board and has been doing a great job working to get the voluntary sector voice heard in all things workforce. Sharon will introduce the session at the September meeting and we hope to have ICB experts coming along to aid discussions.     

Please do come along and share your thoughts, ideas and concerns. From 2pm to 4pm at The Hub, Cambourne. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Extending our reach 

We are always wanting new members and are working hard to extend the reach of the Health Alliance. We have looked at our current membership and would more representation amongst small community groups, faith groups and groups working in East Cambridgeshire. Groups and organisations specifically working with excluded communities are particularly welcome to help us build greater diversity. 

Building a collaborative network 

How often have you received information about a source of funding that has a ridiculously short turnaround time? To help the sector prepare for these opportunities, we will soon be circulating a project development form and asking for you to tell us about your proposal. We’ll make sure the form works for large and small organisations and ask for proposals that will encourage partnership and collaboration.  

Progress on developing our brand 

Work has started on gathering your views and ideas about our Health Alliance partnership and what it means to you. You will shortly be receiving a survey from PCVS asking for your feedback and how well you think we convey our vision and purpose. Please do take a few minutes to complete this; the findings will help the steering group develop the next stage. 

We are looking for people to join the steering group for this very exciting piece of work. If you are interested please email Sandie. There’ll also be an opportunity to ask questions at the September Health Alliance meeting.

Safeguarding update 

With thanks to the Local Safeguarding Board who are now supporting our work to develop guidance and policies. Also, thanks to Sallyann at Hunts Forum for taking this forward. We’ll make sure that the guidance is easy to follow and works for all of our VCSE partners. We’re keen to get more organisations to commit to supporting our Health Alliance safeguarding policy statement. Email Sandie if you would like to know more. 

Mental health community workers – Health and wellbeing network event   

The next Health and Wellbeing Network meeting is on 5th September online from 11am to 12pm. Claire Layton will be joining the meeting to tell us how the Mental Health Community Connectors are helping within their communities and what their role entails. Book your place here.  

Our meetings  

Here are the dates of our future meetings, please do put them in your diary. We have tried to get a mix of times, locations and formats to help as many people as possible get involved. The September meeting will have a workforce focus and after that we are alternating themes with general Health Alliance business. If you would like to suggest a theme please contact sandie@huntsforum.org.uk. 

  • 13th September 2-4 Focus on workforce    –  Cambourne Hub 
  • 18th October 9.30-11.30 Health Alliance business    –   Zoom 
  • 6th December 1-3pm Theme to confirm    –   Zoom 
  • 17th January 1-3 Health Alliance business   –  March Library 
  • 28th February 9.30-11.30 Theme to confirm  –   Zoom 
  • 17th April 1-3 Health Alliance business  –  Peterborough  
  • 22nd May 10-12 Theme to confirm  –  St Ives Corn Exchange 

More members please! 

And lastly, please do pass this newsletter onto your team and other groups and organisations who may not yet be Health Alliance members. Anyone wishing to join should email Debbie Debbie@huntsforum.org.uk. 

 

See here for more information about the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Health Alliance. Please note: We’re revamping our webpage to bring it up to date with current projects and resources. As ever, please do let us have your feedback.   

VCSE Health Alliance – Update Bulletin – August 2023

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August 2023

Getting our voices heard

The funding we have received for representation offers an opportunity for Health Alliance reps to join several of the Integrated Care System decision-making committees. Reports from these reps are on the Health Alliance webpage (see link at the end).

We are also writing guidance so we can all be clear about what are the expectations around representation and how we support better engagement and listing who is doing what. We’ll let you know when this is available. It will be reviewed on a quarterly basis.

Please contact Debbie if you are interested in taking on a rep role. Training is available to help upskill people. We are always looking at ways to expand the funding and so offer more reimbursed opportunities.

Using voluntary sector data

Our sector gathers and processes an enormous amount of data about our services and the people we work with. Over the past months Cambridge CAB have been leading a piece of work to see how this data can contribute to Integrated Care Board (ICB) data at a local level. Initially, focused on an area of Cambridge, what we learn about the different types of data and how to combine and analyse will help us replicate in other areas. Jeremy Lane, Associate Director of Business Intelligence at the ICB said:

 ‘The more we know about local people and their needs, the better we can design services and make a difference. It’s vital therefore that we work closely with all our ICS partners across health, local authority and VCSE organisations to share and explore data together to build a clearer picture and improve care.’

The Hewitt Review

Published in April this year, The Hewitt Review, looked at how Integrated Care Systems are working and sets out recommendations for the next stage. Thinktank, Carnall Farrar have summarised the findings on this visual. Over the coming months we will be looking at the recommendations and how these read across to current plans. We will be circulating our conclusions and inviting ideas and discussion.

Keeping people safe

With thanks to everyone who has signed up so far to the Health Alliance Safeguarding Statement. Colleagues at Hunts Forum are now starting to develop a set of policies and guidance. After that we’ll be compiling training resources and opportunities for further advice and support. Email Sandie if you would like to commit to supporting the statement sandie@huntsforum.org.uk

Health Alliance branding

We are delighted to have received some ICB funding to develop a clear brand for the Health Alliance. Peterborough CVS are leading this piece of work and will ensure that the views of the sector are taken into account. Christina Alexander, PCVS CEO, said:

‘We’re very excited to be part of the Health Alliance representing Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and look forward to working with our VCS partners to develop a clear and recognisable identity for the group’

We are looking for groups to join the steering group for this work. If you are interested please email Kalai at PCVS  kalai.short@pcvs.co.uk

Our meetings

Here are the dates of our future meetings, please do put them in your diary. We have tried to get a mix of times, locations and formats to help as many people as possible get involved. The September meeting will have a workforce focus.

  • 13th September 2-4 Cambourne Hub
  • 18th October 9.30-11.30 Zoom
  • 6th December 1-3pm Zoom
  • 17th January 1-3 March Library
  • 28th February 9.30-11.30 Zoom
  • 17th April 1-3 Peterborough (venue TBC)
  • 22nd May 10-12 St Ives Corn exchange
More members please ! And lastly, please do pass this newsletter onto your team and other groups and organisations who may not yet be Health Alliance members. Anyone wishing to join should email Debbie Debbie@huntsforum.org.uk    See here for more information about the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Health Alliance

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