Health Equality Funding

The Northamptonshire Integrated Care System has received a Grant from the Lottery Community Fund which amounts to 495K over a three-year period. The Grant must be used to embed the VCSE into the Integrated Care System. Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire is the Grant holder, but to ensure the maximum and effective use of this funding an Oversight Group has been established which consists of a range of Statutory and VCSE Partners.

Health Equality Funding seeks to develop systems and solutions to enable effective partnership working between sectors and the delivery of measurable reduction of health inequalities for local communities.

Partners involved in the application process were:

  • The VCSE Assembly Independent Chair and its Thematic Leads.
  • Collaborative Leads (Elective Care, Children and Young People, Ageing Well and Mental health).
  • Directors of Place (North and West Northants).
  • Northamptonshire Health Inequalities Lead (Public Health).
  • Primary Care Representatives (North and West Northants).
  • VIN CEO or Development Manager (As Grant holders).

As Grant holders, VIN will maintain responsibility for the financial, project management and reporting aspects of the grant. In some cases, VIN will need to make difficult decisions regarding limited funding but will always use the Oversight Group as a sense checking mechanism before taking an agreed course of action.

Delivery

The submission was structured into 4 priority areas as set out below:

  1. Structure, systems, and processes.
  2. People and collaboration.
  3. Pilot projects to test, learn and gather information.
  4. Improving capacity and capability for involvement.

Recruitment

An Alliances Manager is central to the successful delivery of the projects and its outcomes and their main role is to:

  • Be a central point of contact for all in the delivery of the project.
  • Take a lead in forming the structure, systems, and processes for VCSE and community involvement within the defined ICS structure in the North and West of the County.
  • To engage with key stakeholders by facilitating network meetings, training and events.
  • To work closely with both Directors of Place (North and West).
  • To engage across the VCSE sector.

The VCSE Assembly will remain the main construct for collaboration, voice, and representation of the VCSE sector, but it is recognised that other engagement opportunities through adapted models or frameworks will be available, and these should be utilised where they exist.

What activities will the grant fund?

The activities below are those scheduled for the Grant over the three years of the project.

Activity Purpose Value
Strategic Network meetings

 

 

 

 

 

Backfill and Bursary Scheme

People and collaboration

A forum where partners from across sectors can come together and discuss systems, barriers, development, and impact in a targeted way. This will help to build understanding and develop new ways of working.

 

Improving capacity and capability for involvement

To ensure that capacity to attend is not a barrier, especially for smaller organisations with limited resources.

 

 £43700
Information Portal – Website

 

 

 

 Improving capacity and capability for involvement

A mechanism for informing the VCSE and wider partners about every aspect of the ICS and Connect Northamptonshire.

 £3,500
Neighbourhood Planning Toolkit People and collaboration

To facilitate structure, representation, and the voice of communities in the development of Local Area Partnerships.

 £45,000
Coaching and Training for Communities People and collaboration

To support people that would like to participate at a Local Area Partnership or a Health and Wellbeing Forum, so they have the confidence, skills, and capability to undertake a role effectively.

 £15,000
Leadership Training Programme Improving capacity and capability for involvement

To support new and emerging leaders, harnessing fresh ideas and different ways of working.

 £6,300
Representative  Training Improving capacity and capability for involvement

Supporting those with a representative role within the ICS structure, enabling them to undertake a role effectively and efficiently.

 £10,000
Pilot Projects Test and Learn

Projects should test new approaches, work with to hard-to-reach groups, add value to local delivery  and fill a gap in local need.

 £155,000
Neighbourhood Commissioning Events Structure, systems, and processes

To build relationships; Commissioning and co-production of services at a local level are a key element in the vision of integrated care.

 £60,000

How does my organisation participate?

Not every organisation can sit at the representative structures of the ICS. Not every VCSE organisation would want to: The role of the Oversight Group is to ensure that the correct voices are heard to advance the cause of the VCSE and local communities within this new framework.

The Alliances Manager and the Oversight Group will have a role to process information and ensure connectivity. The VCSE ICS Portal is one method of achieving this and you should check back regularly for updates and developments.

Funding for this programme is provided by the Lottery Community Fund. Please find their latest Lottery announcement here.

Oversight Group Minutes