Healthier Together Conference 6th march 2013

1. Here’s Looking at You:
The NHS and the VCS
Lin O’Hara
Involve North East
6 March 2013

2. NHS Reform:
Winners and Losers in the Voluntary Sector
‘The largest and most vibrant social enterprise
sector in the world’
? ‘No decision about me without me’: What do
patients and health service users expect?
? What do GPs think of the VCS in Newcastle?
? What are the expectations (and experiences to date)
of VCS providers in Newcastle?

3. Choice and Control
Patients, Carers and the Public
 Delighted. Good to see doctors using local
groups and charities
 I have used charities in the past and they have
been very good
 If it was best for me, why not? And if it was
quicker than an NHS service, all the better
 Great, as opposed to the private sector

4.  Great as long as they were not expecting the
charity to do it free
 Disgusted because why should charities do the
work of the NHS?!
 Charities are there to support, not provide
treatment. The NHS shouldn’t pile
responsibility on to volunteers

5. The view from the surgery
Do you think the VCS has a role to play in your practice?
83.9%
Would you consider working with VCS organisations in the future?
87.1%
Do you know enough about the VCS to be able to work with them
now?
6.5%
Do you know how/where to find out more about the VCS in Newcastle?
25.8%

6. Past Experience
Have you worked with VCS organisations in your practice?
Number %
Yes 17 54.8
No 12 38.7
Don’t know 2 6.5
Did the practice pay?
Number %
Yes 7 28.0
No 15 60.0
Don’t know 3 12.0

7. Feedback
• Excellent, brilliant, invaluable . . .
• The practice and patients loved it. It’s a shame
the funding ran out
• Fine as far as I know, never heard much back
• As far as we are aware, really good
Would you use them again?
Yes 100%

8. How would you like to find out more about
the VCS and what it can offer?
Number of % of respondents
respondents
Online directory 20 39.0
Leaflet in the post 12 23.0
Face to face meeting 12 23.0
‘Speed dating’ event 8 15.0
Telephone call 0 0

9. Any other suggestions?
• Information at Clinical Commissioning Group 'time out'
events
• We hold short weekly education meetings in the
Practice. And the consortium holds longer quarterly
meetings. It would be useful to hear from
organisations at those meetings
• It would be good to arrange for voluntary
organisations to come to our regular practice
meetings. Three practices meet on Friday lunchtimes

10. The other side of the coin:
VCS experiences

11. Participants
• 31 organisations
• 25 currently receiving PCT funding
• Mixture of local, national, regional focus
• 12 currently working with GP practices in
Newcastle
• None receiving payment from GP practices

12. Negotiations
• We spoke at one of their regular sessions, and they
were very enthusiastic – but then you come away
and you don’t hear anything afterwards
• Still in negotiations but it’s all dependent on funding!
• A Practice Manager approached us, but although we
were interested nothing developed from the GP side

13. For example . . .
‘We were approached by a practice a few months ago and
we went out to talk to them and they were very
interested . . .
. . . but they didn’t have any money . . .
. . . we could have worked together to put in a funding bid
somewhere
. . . but then I’d have used one of my potential funding
sources for something that’s not essential to my
organisation.’

14. What could the NHS do?
• Be clear about the outcomes needed –
including ‘soft’ outcomes
• Proportionate way to identify, evaluate and
commission smaller providers
• ‘Joined up’ processes and systems with City
Council
• Consider grant aid to replace some PCT
funding

15. What could the VCS do?
• ‘We should cost out the true cost of our services
so they know, each time we have an intervention
with a young person or an adult, how much the
true cost is’
• Report back on referrals: what was done, what its
effect was, what resources were involved. Raise
awareness
• Work with GPs to develop a common template
for describing organisations and their work and
its impact

16. NESTA
Newcastle West CCG: One-year funding for social
prescribing project with VCS
‘The CCG will continue to work with the voluntary
sector through Newcastle CVS and Involve North East
to further improve partnerships and e.g. to consider
how to take forward specific recommendations in
recently commissioned reports’

17. And finally . . .
Don’t all rush at once . . .
One stop shop: central, independent conduit for
information between the voluntary and
statutory sectors

18. The reports
“My Body, My Life”
Views of patients, carers and the public in Newcastle upon Tyne
“Time and People that we don’t have”
Views of GPs in Newcastle upon Tyne
Here’s Looking at You
Reflections from the Voluntary and Community Sector
NHS change: Winners and losers?
Summary report
www.resourcebank.org.uk