Tag Archive for: Cambridgshire

Health Alliance Group Update April 2023

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This month’s meeting was chaired by Julie Farrow, CEO of Hunt’s Forum. A welcome and a round of introductions were made as there were several new attendees. 

Julie apologised for the change in the agenda due to the proposed speaker being unavailable at the last minute.  

From the action log a question was raised around the State of the Sector survey (produced by CCVS and Hunts Forum).  

Although the survey has ended, the full report and analysis is still to be completed. Once this has been done this will be shared with anyone who would like it and put on the Support Cambridgeshire website.  

A future discussion is planned to see how more workforce data could be collected. The ICB People Board is looking at the workforce and it seems like a good time for the VCSE to be included. 

Hewitt Review 

Instead of the speaker, Julie proposed a discussion around the Hewitt Review and shared a synopsis slide deck with the group. The Hewitt review looked at the oversight and governance of the ICS arrangements. 

Read the paper HERE

A link to the full review is below. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-hewitt-review-an-independent-review-of-integrated-care-systems 

It was agreed that understanding how this applies in our area and which recommendations would be taken up was important for the voluntary sector going forward.  

The recommendation of 1% increase in funding for prevention (often an area the voluntary sector organisations are involved with) over the next 5 years sounds positive. Still, without knowing what the start point is or understanding if the monies are being drawn from other health areas, it is difficult for the Alliance members to have confidence in the proposal. 

It was agreed that it would be good to have a meeting with the ICS and the voluntary sector so the route going forward was clearer. Julie agreed to try and get this arranged. It was also suggested that reps that attend ICB committees also refer to the review, where appropriate, during meetings to get more incite. 

Attendees felt there was still some disconnect in this ICS between North and South place, with both doing things differently- could this exacerbate the health inequalities within our region? Both directors for North and South Partnerships are being invited to future Health Alliance meetings (subject to their availability) 

Julie’s Update 

Julie then gave a brief update on the Healthy Futures Funding that has been launched and is being managed by Cambridgeshire Community Foundation (CCF). This programme makes £2 million available to Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) partners across the area to deliver health and well-being improvements for local people, their neighbourhoods and communities. The minimum amount is £50k and it maybe that a few organisations will want to come together to apply. 

Applications are open from the 1st May to see more details-www.cambscf.org.uk/healthier_futures_fund 

Hunts Forum, PCVS and CCVS will be supporting groups to make applications for funds- a meeting between these organisations and CCF on what support and how it will be delivered is planned. More information will follow soon. 

Julie also mentioned that each district has also received monies for tackling prevention and supporting community engagement. Each district is using this money in different ways.  

Health Alliance successful in gaining Secretariat funding from the ICS – this funding will support the following: 

  • Programme Director 14 hrs per week – hosted by Health Alliance member = £20k key tasks ensuring implementation of the VCSE Strategy, attending high level meetings (ICB in future as per goal in Strategy), chairing Alliance meetings 
  • Project Officer 21 hours per week – hosted by Health Alliance member = £20k key tasks organising all meetings, collating feedback from reps, supporting Programme Director and Health Alliance members (currently being hosted by Hunts forum (Debbie’s role). 
  • Communications 7 hours per week – hosted by Health Alliance member = £5k key tasks circulating information and opportunities to partners 
  • Data collection 7 hours per month – hosted by Health Alliance member = £5k key tasks continuation of the data project, collating and bringing together key data sets from VCSE Health Alliance members 

Julie asked that any organisations interested in the above get in touch with her. 

 Other Updates 

As the ICS committees have not met since the last Alliance meeting any updates for these will be shared later. 

The tackling inequalities group have three projects  

  • Skill Swap – Oasis Centre Wisbech 
  • Child safety/ health – Oxmoor 
  • Chair-based yoga- Peterborough 

The skills swap event has taken place with an attendance of 16 (a few no shows) with an age range between 7 and 92. Debbie was able to have some conversations with attendees about the priorities for the ICS and capture their views and where they feel there are gaps in provision.  

The Integrated Neighbourhoods Updates  

St Neots Integrated board has met, and 3 priorities were chosen- Prevention, Mental Health and Access to services (primarily a directory). 

Huntingdon/ A1 has agreed 2 hub areas in principle- Coneygear Centre (Oxmoor) and Sawtry- The plan is to engage with existing groups to identify gaps in provision. There will be liaisons with HDC, too so that there is not duplication. 

Fenland IN have some engagement events planned in the libraries and have secured some funding to run some cooking sessions. 

Debbie explained that she is attending as many of the IN meetings as possible and linking them in with local voluntary sector organisations. As Debbie is not attending any IN in Peterborough or Cambridge it would be useful if other Health Alliance members attended these. They could give updates at the meeting or via Debbie. 

Some organisations wondered how they could be involved. The list of known contacts would be reshared after the meeting, and if anyone had an interest in a specific project, Debbie is happy to do an email introduction to the leads. 

Goals update 

 Julie briefly updated people on Goal 2- There was not much time for discussion due to the active discussions previously- However some of the goals on this are covered by previous discussion such as training opportunities. 

There is no meeting planned for May as there are several Bank Holidays. The next meeting will be the 14th June 2pm and is an in person meeting being held at Peterborough Football ground. 

Lloyds Bank Foundation Funding Confirmed

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Support Cambridgeshire is delighted to announce that two of its partner organisations, CCVS and Hunts Forum, have been award £30,000 to deliver a year-long project across Fenland.

This funding has been awarded as part of the infrastructure grant scheme, which gives 15 local infrastructure charities funding to review and support their service during and after COVID. Infrastructure has been the backbone to the voluntary and community response during the pandemic. It is worth noting that these organisations are charities in themselves, with their own challenges.

Lloyds Bank Foundation hopes this money will allow infrastructure organisations to have the space to reflect on their delivery and services moving forward, ensuring that they can continue to respond to the changing demands of the sector.

Paul Streets, Chief Executive of the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, said: “Infrastructure charities have played a vital role to ensure that the response to the pandemic has been effective and locally rooted. These locally embedded organisations know the complex challenges facing their communities and are helping small charities to adapt to the challenges they’ve faced over the last ten months……Crucially, these organisations are also helping to raise the importance of small charities that provide local services.”

Hunts Forum and CCVS are thrilled to have been granted this funding. It will allow for a scoping exercise and support program responding to the needs of the voluntary and community sector in Fenland. It will also give the capacity to both organisations to review what infrastructure support looks like across the five districts of Cambridgeshire.

Julie Farrow, CEO at Hunts Forum and the lead organisation in the Support Cambridgeshire partnership, said: “We are really excited to have been given this funding. It will provide us with the space to be able to review what support groups in Fenland need now and coming out of COVID, and ensure the Support Cambridgeshire partners are equipped and ready to meet that need.”

 

Coronavirus – Where to Find Information

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Resources from the Support Cambridgeshire Partners

The Hunts Forum Coronavirus Portal includes information and resources for organisations responding to the virus outbreak or struggling financially and operationally as a result of it, plus an archive of weekly updates.

CCVS‘s Covid-19 pages include advice for new community groups responding to the crisis, ways that volunteers can help, updates from other key organstions and information about business continuity planning.

Check out Cambridgeshire ACRE‘s blogs for Community Buildings and for Town and Parish Councils for the latest information and resources.

Countywide Coordination Hub

The Cambridgeshire Coordination Hub was launched to help those people in our communities who are at the highest risk and shielded during the Coronavirus outbreak. The hub will help ensure that services provided by key workers, such as care for the elderly, are able to continue through the redeployment of staff and the deployment of volunteers. It also co-ordinates the distribution of support to the most vulnerable shielded group, whether it is food, medicine or social aspects. In addition, it works closely with the district/city hubs to ensure all vulnerable people are supported.

Find out more about our Coordination Hub on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough websites or call 0345 045 5219 (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat 9am-1pm).

Districts

Each district within Cambridgeshire has its own hotline or website to support residents.

East Cambridgeshire – email covid19@eastcambs.gov.uk or call 01353 665555 (Mon-Fri 9am-4pm)
South Cambridgeshire – www.scambs.gov.uk/coronavirus
Cambridge City – www.cambridge.gov.uk/coronavirus-community-group-contact-details
Fenland – www.fenland.gov.uk/coronavirus
Huntingdonshire – www.wearehuntingdonshire.org

Useful Links for Community Organisations

There’s a huge amount of information out there to help community groups meet the challenges of the Covid-19 outbreak. Here are a few websites that we hope you’ll find useful.

NCVO – a wide range of resources covering keeping people safe, contingency planning, involving volunteers and risk management

NAVCA – key news relevant to the sector from the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action

Charity Commission – useful advice to ensure that registered charities act safely and lawfully during the crisis

www.gov.uk/coronavirus – the best source for the latest official government guidance

Charity Bank – advice on funding, government support, business and legal support

Support Services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

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Cambridge County Council and Peterborough City Council have now released Commissioned Community Services list 2020 – highlighted their commissioned services across the two areas. The flyer consists of three pages and makes it clear what services each provider is offering along with contact details.

Remember you can also find more information on the Cambridgeshire Directory and Peterborough Information Network

The Portal Tops 300K

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The Support Cambridgeshire self-funding Portal (SC4C) goes from strength to strength with local Cambridgeshire community organisations raising in excess of 300K by using its free self directing funding search potential (a 1164% increase on the previous year).

Over the past 12 months, the Portal has been visited on 5,860 occasions with 506 new registered organisation using the search facility and 650 repeat visitors.

The top 5 search areas continue to be Youth engagement, Older people, Education, Disability and Volunteering.

So our advice is to register and use the Portal: Simply click here to start your journey. You can use the Portal repeatedly without cost: All we ask is that when you receive an electronic  questionnaire about how good or bad the site is you provide your honest opinion. This feedback helps us to improve the site, making it easier for more groups or organisations to use the service.

Here is what some users have said this year:

SC4C is incredibly easy to navigate. Its a really useful resource for community organisations.

We raised 50K off the back of a SC4C search: Its so simple and easy to use.

I use SC4C every week when searching for funds. If you use it in conjunction with the funding alerts it really does help.

If you need some help registering then please contact info@huntsforum.org.uk and put SC4C in your title line.  

Wanted: Your Health and Care experiences

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Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is the independent champion for people using local health and care services.

Their job is to listen to what people across the area have to say – good and not so good.

Can they help raise some of the issues your organisation, group or users are facing?  What’s working well or where could things be improved?

People tell Healthwatch about recent visits to GPs, dentists and opticians as well as clinic and hospital visits.  They also share views on care services in and around Peterborough.

Any information you give Healthwatch is logged and shared anonymously with the people who make decisions about local services and who can make change happen.

Can they help you too?

They area always looking for opportunities to spread the word about local organisations with GPs and patient groups too.

They might also be able to pass on your details to members of the public calling our Information Service for health and care support, help and advice.

Their engagement team are out and about at events across the area every week – could they come and talk to you too? Please get in touch.

Like to share your feedback and experiences?

 

Commissioning Forum

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The next Support Cambridgeshire Commissioning Forum takes place on the 30th October 2019 at Bar Hill Village Hall 

Commissioning Forums give VCSE sector representatives the opportunity to ask Commissioners about best practice, the current landscape in commissioning through Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and what the future might look like.

3 Commissioners will be in attendance on the day.

The Agenda is as follows:

Welcome and introductions.

Summary of previous meetings.

Challenges & Opportunities.

Bridging the Gap.

Moving Forward.

The session will be facilitated by Julie Farrow, lead CEO of Support Cambridgeshire and Fiona Adler from the Commissioning Unit.

The event will begin promptly at 9AM and will finish at 12.30PM.

To book your space contact jackie@huntsforum.org.uk

 

 

Cinnamon Micro – Grants

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Cinnnamon invites churches in Cambridgeshire to participate in an exciting pilot partnership with either Cambridgeshire County Council  or Cambridgeshire Police in which targeted social action projects will be established  in high-need, low-capacity communities.

Cinnamon believe that churches are well placed to offer support for those most likely to be impacted by the reduced budgets of local authorities around the country. 

In this exciting new partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridgeshire Police, local churches will have the opportunity to reduce demand on services by making a lasting difference in the lives of the vulnerable and marginalised. 

Participating churches will receive: 

Depending on the project selected and the location, participating churches will be partnered with either Cambridgeshire County Council or Cambridgeshire Police.

Cinnamon regional advisor Nick Amis, will contact any interested parties with further information. 

Following the learning from this pilot, Cinnamon seeks to help churches partner with local authorities and police forces throughout the UK, to change lives and transform communities. 

This grant round runs from 1 April to the 31st May and the next round will follow on 3rd June to the 31st July.

For more information or to contact Cinnamon click here: