Health Alliance Group Update February 2023
Members from the Health Alliance group met again on Wednesday, 8th February, online. We had a good turn-up of members from volunteer organisations, which gave a good representation of the VCSE sector.
The meeting was chaired by Julie Farrow, CEO of Hunts Forum. Julie gave an update on the ‘Action Log’, which is a document listing almost 30 tasks the Health Alliance group has identified in previous meetings that need further investigation or action with the ICS or ICB.
The action log previously raised a question about Jargon busting. Debbie Drew, our Project Officer (Health) shared with the Alliance this https://www.cpics.org.uk/jargon-buster
Although a lot of progress has been made so far with members offering support and involvement in attending the numerous ICS boards, Julie reiterated that as a group, we needed more individuals from the voluntary sector to engage and share information and priorities from the ground level. We have a great opportunity now to highlight to the ICS the key issues and frustrations facing the VCSE sector and our communities.
Julie then introduced Paul Taylor, Primary Care and HR Service, Staff Support Hub Lead.
Paul gave a presentation introducing the Staff Support Hub (SSH). The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough SSH are one of 40 hubs set up during COVID national. These hubs were initially set up to help individuals in Social Care & Health, including the volunteer sector, whose mental health was being affected during COVID. Paul explained that Cambridgeshire & Peterborough came ‘late to the party’ and thus only launched their SSH services around 18 months ago.
Paul went on to give a full presentation on the impact of the SSH, which so far has helped in the reduction of sickness and health for staff from across Health & Social Care. Whilst mental health, including stress and anxiety, are still the biggest reasons for being off sick, the team at SSH are pleased to announce that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have the 6th lowest workforce sickness rate in the country.
The Staff Support Hub has supported the following activities in our region:
- Access to the Working Well programme – to help individuals remain at work.
- Support helpline (between 11 am – 7 pm) through the Lifecraft Mental Health Charity
- Wellbeing Webinars and Forums – covering key areas such as long COVID and Menopause
- Signpost to Psychological well-being and Counselling services
To access the video showing Paul’s full presentation to the group
Unfortunately, Paul confirmed that a decision had been made by NHS England to cease all funding for the SSH nationally from the end of March 2023. However, as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough programme started late and thus had money left in the budget, they will be able to keep operating a full service until September 2023.
However, from 1st of April, they will need to cut back on some services, including the Helpline and will be forced to bring it in-house, and will be monitored by existing staff. For full information about the reduced services, please refer to their website www.staffsupporthub.org
Strategic Goals
The meeting continued with Julie updating members on the progress of one of four strategic goals, as mentioned in the VCSE strategy.
Goal 1 – Support and enable a vibrant and thriving VCSE sector to play its part
We have come a long way since the sign-off of the strategy some 10 months ago. Although some progress feels very slow, the Health Alliance group has made some significant inroads in improving the relationship between the VCSE sector and the ICS.
The following table shows the progress we have made in achieving our short-term goals to-date.
We now have around 100 organisations actively involved within the VCSE sector. However, more work still needs to be done, and the Health Alliance group need more organisations to help further raise the profile of the VCSE sector and highlight all support we need.
Integrated Neighbourhoods update
Debbie gave an update from the integrated neighbourhoods she attends but is awaiting the priorities from others in Cambridge and Peterborough. St Neots launched their Integrated Neighbourhood on 7th but there are still several others due to be launched this year.
Representative Boards update
We continue to have a good number of Representatives feeding back regularly from attending the various ICB boards and committees. Full details of these reports can be seen on our Health Alliance webpage each month. Click here to read the latest reports.
Finally, Julie finished the meeting with an update to the members on the three projects funded by the ICB to help support the Health Alliance activities in developing the partnership. These include:
Tackling Inequalities
A meeting was held last week. A verbal summary was given on the main points discussed and agreed during the meeting. These include;
- The data project between CAB and Healthwatch is still being compiled and scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2023.
- The project group decided to focus on Wisbech and the Oxmoor Estate. Key focus areas identified included ‘family prevention’ and ways to engage with the local community to understand the key issues they are facing at ground level and what support they need.
Partnership Development
This project group hasn’t met yet, but high on their agenda they will be looking at the following issues;
- Look at ways for Hunts Forum to step back from having a key role in the running of the Health Alliance, potentially recruiting a new ‘lead’ for the group from the VCSE sector.
- Encouraging new members into the Health Alliance from across the VCSE sector
- Set up a training programme to offer confidence skills and encourage more members to become Representatives.
Securing Funding and External Investment
This group met last week, and a verbal summary was given on the main points. These included;
- CCVS & Hunts Forum have expanded the State of the Sector survey to include PCVS and gather data on how our VCSE sector has survived COVID; this baseline data will help the Health Alliance to target areas of work and bring VCSE groups closer together.
- Fundraising Strategy – Julie to contact two consultancies to write a proposal on how the VCSE sector could work collaboratively to write bid applications for funding or commissioning work.
The next meeting will be on 8th March and will be a face-to-face meeting held in Cambourne between 2 pm – 4 pm. If you would like an invite, please email debbie.drew@huntsforum.org.uk.
