CCGs working with their local communities to build involvement in local health partnerships

The NHS Commissioning Board, together with NAVCA (National Association of Voluntary and Community Action) and Social Enterprise UK (SEUK), are looking for up to 12 CCGs who are committed to delivering improved health outcomes for their communities by building effective community involvement in commissioning to express an interest in becoming a learning site.  Learning sites will form a network across England to develop, highlight and support best practice; enable local partners to innovate local solutions and to spread best practice amongst other CCGs.

CCGs who come forward – with their local partners – to take part will be invited to describe the support they would like to receive in order to realise their aspirations, ensure their success and share their learning with others.

Learning sites will identify what local actions and priorities they want to focus on.  They will have access to facilitated support and a bursary to develop their local approaches and partnerships

The programme builds on existing practice to enable CCGs to develop innovative approaches to commissioning for improved health outcomes through effective partnerships, that recognise and value the essential contribution of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors.  The learning sites will bring together the local voluntary and community sectors with CCG leaders and others to build mutual trust and understanding in order to jointly develop practical solutions that address local priorities.

The programme plans to form a network of learning sites where CCGs are developing constructive and productive partnerships together with their local communities by:

• providing information, advice and support to CCGs on the role and contribution of the voluntary sector and community groups; and
• ensuring that voluntary organisations have the capability to respond to local needs and emerging commissioning requirements and grow their stake in the new health economies.

The five principal objectives for the programme are to:

• assist CCGs to realise their aspirations for truly meaningful engagement with patients, carers and their communities;
• enable the building of trust and mutual understanding between voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations and CCGs;
• enable senior staff in CCGs and VCSE to take key leadership roles in responding to the challenges of transforming health commissioning and delivery of improved health outcomes through cross-sector collaboration;
• develop and implement local programmes of intervention for more effective engagement of the VCSE sector in health commissioning and delivery of improved health outcomes; and
• facilitate the sharing of innovative models of effective working and successful approaches to clinical commissioning thus enabling the spread of best practice.

Further information, and an expression of interest form is available. The deadline for expressions of interest to be submitted is Friday 14 December 2012.