The VCSE sector plays a vital and varied role as a partner within integrated care systems (ICSs). Its value comes from direct delivery of services, its focus on health creation and prevention, its expertise in service planning and co-production, its intelligence and insight on people and communities, its physical assets like buildings and vehicles, its passionate staff and volunteers, and its trusted relationships within seldom heard groups and different communities of interest and identity.
‘Commissioning’ is a process that identifies needs, then procures services to meet those needs, then evaluates the effectiveness of those services. Involving the VCSE sector in commissioning (through coproduction and codesign) can lead to more appropriate services being designed and therefore to better outcomes. Making commissioning more collaborative, and less competitive, can lead to more effective, innovative and sustainable solutions.
The resulting grants and contracts from commissioning also have a direct impact on the resilience and capacity VCSE sector, which as participants of NAVCA’s Embedding VCSE in ICS Peer Support Network have consistently highlighted, affects the VCSE’s ability to play its role as a key partner in ICSs and is a key enabler of integration and collaboration.
This webinar aims to share learning on the topic of commissioning and the impact on strategic partnerships in health and care, identifying tools and enablers for spreading good practice, by drawing on the experience of case studies.
The purpose is to enable participants to understand:
- Why the commissioning environment has an impact on the VCSE sector and its role as a system partner in ICSs? (where are we now - the context and challenge)
- How good practice in commissioning works to enable impactful partnerships that improve health and wellbeing? (where we want to get to - the solution)
- What the tools and enablers can enable good practice in commissioning that works for the full breadth and depth of the VCSE sector? (getting from A to B)
This webinar is likely to be of interest to people from across the NHS, local government and the VCSE sector involved in commissioning and / or strategic partnership building within ICSs.