Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Health and Wellbeing Alliance

The Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Health and Wellbeing Alliance (HW Alliance) is a key element of the Health and Wellbeing Programme.

The HW Alliance is partnership between voluntary sectors and the health and care system to provide a voice and improve the health and wellbeing for all communities.

It has been established to:

  • Facilitate integrated working between the voluntary and statutory sectors
  • Support a two way flow of information between communities, the VCSE sector and policy leads
  • Amplify the voice of the VCSE sector and people with lived experience to inform national policy
  • Facilitate co-produced solutions to promote equality and reduce health inequalities

The HW Alliance is jointly managed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England and is made up of 20 VCSE Members that represent communities who share protected characteristics or that experience health inequalities. Through their networks HW Alliance Members can link with communities and VCSE organisations across England.

Individuals and VCSE organisations who would like to share their experiences and ideas with NHS England, DHSC and PHE can do so via HW Alliance Members.

Further information on each member and how you can contact them can be found below.

Please subscribe to the monthly Health and Social Care e-news bulletin.

Articles are provided by the three system partners (Public Health England, Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England). For other general enquiries, please email HWAlliance@dhsc.gov.uk.

Reports and resources

In May, The HW Alliance hosted a webinar on ‘The NHS Long Term Plan: Opportunities for the VCSE’. You can watch a recording here.

Here are some reports and resources that the HW Alliance have produced. For more information about any of these documents, please contact the HW Alliance member directly.

Health and Wellbeing Alliance member Key documents
Citizens Advice Citizens Advice mental health insights: people’s experience of care coordination*
Citizens Advice Citizens Advice mental health insights: people’s experience of community mental health support
Citizens Advice/Association of Mental Health Providers The roadblock to recovery: How mental health practitioners deal with people’s practical problems in England
FaithAction How Faith-Based Organisations Support Our Health and Care System (booklet of case studies)
Friends Families and Travellers Digital Exclusion in Gypsy and Traveller communities in the United Kingdom
Friends, Families and Travellers/Homeless Link VCSE Inclusion Health Audit Tool
Homeless Link/Young People’s Health Partnership Homeless families learning resource and toolkit
Hospice UK Care committed to me
Maternity Action Mothers’ Voices – Exploring experiences of maternity and health in low income women and children from diverse ethnic backgrounds
National LGB&T Partnership The Mental Health of Young LGBT People
Race Equality Foundation Dementia and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities 
UK Health Forum/Association of Mental Health Providers/Race Equality Foundation VCSE Organisations: Building a Consensus on Health and Work
Young People’s Health Partnership Resources produced with the Health and Wellbeing Alliance