CIB leads voluntary sector delegation on health transformation

4 April 2018

The voluntary sector is vital in delivering healthcare and, as transformations in the way care is planned and delivered take place, it is imperative their voice is heard.

 

Between November 2017 and March 2018 CIB has been involved in an NCVO project aimed at increasing the involvement of the voluntary sector in health transformation. We were invited by Bucks County Council public health team to lead a delegation of voluntary sector representatives at a series of workshops designed to make sure the voluntary sector is involved in health transformation at a local level.

 

Buckinghamshire Mind, Winslow Big Society, Carers Bucks and Bucks Vision have worked with us to represent the voluntary sector, alongside a delegation of Bucks statutory organisations, at a series of three workshops facilitated by NCVO and NHS England. The workshops aimed to ensure better co-ordination of a wider voluntary sector input, improve integration of the voluntary sector in the planning and delivery of health care and prevention, and help share effective prevention practice.

 

Although the workshops have come to an end, the work that has come out of it will continue.  As a result of working in partnership on this project, the voluntary sector is now part of a steering group working with the CCG and other partners on social prescribing – a way of linking Bucks patients and residents with sources of non-medical support within the community.  In addition, Stephen Archibald from Carers Bucks will represent the wider voluntary sector on the CCG-led long term conditions board, and we’ve secured commitment from Stephen GoldenSmith of Aylesbury Vale and Chiltern CCGs that they will seek representation from the voluntary sector, via CIB, when it is lacking on other decision-making boards.

 

Diane Rutter, CIB services director, who led the voluntary sector delegation said, “The invitation to take part in this project is recognition of the vital role of the voluntary sector in the delivery of healthcare, and the importance of making sure they are represented and listened to when changes are planned in the way health care is delivered locally.  I’m pleased that CIB was invited to take part and that we’ve already managed to get the voluntary sector represented where it wasn’t before.”

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