LET’S TALK ABOUT VALUES
What values should underpin the working relationship between Southampton’s VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises) sector and the local health system?
This is a question we asked at the last meeting of the working group for the emerging Southampton group of community organisations known as the Southampton Health and Care Alliance (see Update no 1 for previous news).
These are some of the values that we feel are important to working together as part of the new Integrated Care System.
Do you agree? If you are a member of the local VCSE community, feel free to share examples of how you feel these values could be effectively applied.
THE NEED FOR A STRONGER VCSE VOICE AND REPRESENTATION IN SOUTHAMPTON HEALTH AND CARE DECISION-MAKING
As we mentioned in our previous update, the community sector feels it has lost its autonomy when it comes to health and care decision making. People feel confused and under-informed about the new health system and the realities of how it will work. We also want better understanding of political priorities.
Southampton Voluntary Services (SVS)’s Rob Kurn, and other SVS staff, attend some meetings (see below), but given limited resources, there is no formal representation process for the local community sector.
We need to develop a representative base that can sit on health and care boards and speak for the community sector. There needs to be clarity on how this representation works, in terms of gathering the views and insights from local VCSE organisations. The process needs to be transparent and democratic.
PROPOSED ACTIVITIES OF THE SOUTHAMPTON HEALTH AND CARE ALLIANCE
Here are some of the proposed activities of the new Southampton Health and Care Alliance:
- Through community organisations working together within a Southampton Health and Care Alliance, we can decide about the issues that matter to us as a VCSE sector and then clearly communicate those issues with others, using a united voice.
- Progress our values in terms of how the VCSE is represented in health and care decision making e.g. mutual support and strong relationships, a culture of inclusivity and mutual respect, valuing people etc. (see image above)
- We need to showcase what the community sector does already when it comes to addressing health issues, the outcomes we achieve (and could further achieve) and help educate others about the role of the VCSE sector. We must develop our communication strategy further.
- We should demonstrate how the community sector helps meet health and care strategy priorities, e.g. those set by the Integrated Care Board and the local Health and Wellbeing Board, and be influencing these priorities and decisions.
- We should be exploring what else the VCSE sector could do to improve health outcomes for local people. We can help support the development of partnerships, both within the VCSE sector and with other organisations, be those NHS, local authorities or private businesses. As we mentioned in our previous update, we feel that collaboration between organisations is the way forward.
- We need to make sure that community needs are at the heart of all health and care decision making, including the voice of patients and those with lived experience of health and caring issues. Colleagues in Healthwatch Southampton have an important role to play in helping to facilitate this.
- We need to raise more awareness that health is about the role of communities, not just what doctors and health professionals can offer, and that prevention is better than cure. It is really important that social prescribing, and the issues that stop people achieving better health outcomes (the wider determinants of healthg. housing, education etc) are integral to the health system and are being addressed.
- The VCSE sector needs to be sharing knowledge about health services, including changes to what is being offered, in a timely way. We can help provide a route for information sharing.
THE ROLE OF SOUTHAMPTON VOLUNTARY SERVICES (SVS)
People have recently asked how SVS is involved in health and care decisions at the moment. SVS is the local umbrella organisation for voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises. SVS’ Chief Executive Rob Kurn sits on a number of local Boards, as listed below. As SVS is contracted to deliver the local Healthwatch Southampton (patient and public voice) service, sometimes SVS attends as a Healthwatch representative.
Southampton-based Boards and Partnerships that Southampton Voluntary Services currently attends:
- Health and Wellbeing Board
- Safe City Partnership
- Children and Young People Strategic Partnership
- Better Care Steering Board
- Integrated Care Board
- Safeguarding Adults Board, and its sub groups
- Safeguarding Children Board, and its sub groups
- Southampton Connect
The intention of the work discussed earlier in this news item, is that other VCSE representatives would be able to be involved in these boards, along with the current groups themed around the issues of Start Well, Live Well, Age Well and Die Well.
Previously SVS received funding to gather together community organisations to discuss issues in more depth. SVS ran a series of separate topic-based groups that had time and energy to develop the VCSE voice, but now representation is done on a more ad hoc basis. A big challenge will be how meaningful representation can be achieved with limited resources. To be successful and meaningful, some more resources will need to be secured. There is a risk of overpromising and under-delivering.
Through the working group, we have discussed whether SVS is the best organisation to facilitate this alliance of community organisations. The non-SVS attendees in the group considered that SVS, as the city’s existing umbrella organisation for the VCSE sector, is best placed to facilitate the alliance. The principles of democracy and transparency must be built into the work.
SVS currently offers a range of services. It is recognized that it could be better at informing people about what it gets up to.
NEXT STEPS
Our working group will next look at the following:
- Take the values identified above, and add some more meaning to them.
- Develop the points made above into a Terms of Reference for the Southampton Health and Care Alliance, and address any gaps so far.
- Exploring how people can become a Member of the Alliance.
- Developing guidelines for representation, so when a member of the VCSE community sits on a Board, they can demonstrate that their voice is representing the wider VCSE sector.
- Developing role descriptions for people involved
- Plan a June event, to launch the first iteration of this Southampton Health and Care Alliance.
- Be clearer about which VCSE voices are currently involved in local health and care meetings, through discussion with staff at the Integrated Care System who have oversight of the network of meetings.
We welcome all input into this process. We want to make sure that we are responding to the needs of the community sector. Please do get in touch with any thoughts on the above.
Rob Kurn, Chief Executive, Southampton Voluntary Services, r.kurn@southamptonvs.org.uk
and Rebecca Kinge, Development Worker, Southampton Voluntary Services r.kinge@southamptonvs.org.uk
4 May 2023.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
For a bit of background on this, please read our previous blog: THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY SECTOR IN HEALTH AND CARE DECISIONS – Southampton Voluntary Services (southamptonvs.org.uk)
The working group for setting up the Southampton Health and Care Alliance is made up of representatives from Southampton Voluntary Services (facilitating the sessions), Saints Foundation, Communicare and the Southampton Mental Health Network, St Denys Activity Group, Mountbatten Group, SCiA, Yellow Door and Diabetes UK. Others are welcome to input into these discussions. So far meetings have taken place on 31 March 2023 and 18 April 2023. The next meeting is currently planned for 10th May 2023 and a larger event is being planned for June 2023. In between each meeting, we share news items via our website and through our e-newsletter.
To be clearer about what Southampton Voluntary Services does, our work includes:
- Communicating issues of interest to the local Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise sector through a regular e-newsletter, website and social media.
- Providing forums for the local VCSE sector to receive support from SVS and mutual support . This includes the monthly Friday Forum, Green Network, Grant Forum.
- Supporting communities to develop and grow their community activities e.g. through So:Links groups, Community development and volunteer development support, plus partnership with Universities to improve links between communities and research.
- Delivering So:Linked social prescribing services, in partnership with other organisations. These give people more opportunities to improve their lives and health through community-based activities.
- Amplifying the voice and needs of the local VCSE community sector, including providing feedback on issues impacting communities to influence public policy and commissioning (how services are contracted and paid for).
- Providing a place for patients and the public to have a stronger voice on health and care issues, particularly through Healthwatch Southampton
- Having a focus on issues to do with inequalities (whose is being left behind or left out) and generally promoting public involvement in service development to try to ensure that public services in particular are meeting local needs.
- Other projects such as Southampton Shopmobility, run the local Voluntary Action Centre, a resource of the local voluntary and community sector, and deliver the Community Roots project.