Stronger Together: Forming Trusted ICS & VCSE Partnerships

In this episode, Christine Price, Chief Officer of Healthwatch Herefordshire and Esther Passingham, VCSE Strategic Lead for Worcestershire VCSE Alliance discuss the Voluntary, Community Social Enterprise (VCSE) network collaborating with the Integrated Care System (ICS).  

The discussion highlights the aims of partnership work for the ICS to work in conjunction with the VCSE sector; sharing community voice with healthcare commissioning services to ensure health and care decision-makers hear the views of communities which experience the greatest health inequalities.   

This episode highlights experiences across the two counties, challenges, best practice projects and development opportunities for the VCSE alliance members. 

  Links related to this episode:     Home - Active Herefordshire & Worcestershire  Funding - Active Herefordshire & Worcestershire  Local Insight Data - Active Herefordshire & Worcestershire  Worcestershire VCSE Alliance 
partners to share commonchallenges and best practices

(00:24):
intended for professionals,communities and individuals
involved in tackling andsustaining change in the health
voluntary and community sectors,with a particular emphasis on
how physical activity andmovement can contribute to
prevention and recovery. Withthese podcasts, we're aiming to

(00:47):
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draw upon the knowledge ofexpertise we've got from
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across the two counties ofperiforshire and Worcestershire,
our podcasts will covereverything from community
engagement, social prescribing,positive aging, flood defenses,
physical activity, clinicalchampions, funding, integrated

(01:11):
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And if you could take time toreview the podcast, we'd really
appreciate it. So let's get onwith today's episode. In this

(01:33):
episode, we're talking about thevcse network collaborating with
the integrated care system. Now,vcse is the voluntary community
social enterprise, and we'regoing to hear from Esther
passingham, who's a vcsestrategic lead for
Worcestershire, and the vcsealliance. Also with her is
Christine price, Chief Officerof Healthwatch Herefordshire.

(01:54):
Together, they're going to helpus understand the aims of their
partnership work. So the twowork in conjunction and what it
means to SHARE Community Voiceswith healthcare commissioning
services, all to ensure thathealth and care decision makers
hear the views of communitieswhich experience the greatest
health inequalities. We're goingto ask them about their
experiences across the twocounties of Herefordshire and

(02:14):
Worcestershire, as well as thechallenges best practice,
projects and developmentopportunities. So let's kick off
hearing from Esther on what herrole involves.

Esther Passingham (02:27):
Yeah, I'm the vcse strategic lead for
Worcestershire. My role is to,in essence, join up the work
that's happening in the vcsewith the integrated care system
work, so with the NHS and withlocal government, and that is

(02:48):
obviously a huge area of work,but the most important thing is
that we identify areas andopportunities of developing more
partnership working between Thesector and our statutory
partners. My background is fromthe vcsc, so, yeah, really,
really passionate about the workthat's going on on the ground in

(03:09):
all sorts of organizations, andhow we can then support the NHS
and local government to providebetter services for people of
Worcestershire.

Christine Price (03:18):
Thank you, Christine. Yeah. So Christine
price, Chief Officer of HealthWatch in Herefordshire, the role
of Health Watch is there forpatients, and it's a statutory
function to give the public avoice around any health and care
services. I work really closelywith Esther because some of the

(03:39):
work that I do has led intotaking a leading role for the
voluntary sector in heritage,within the integrated care
system as it's developed overthe last couple of years. And
like Esther, very passionateabout that, because I think
there's a huge opportunity forthe voluntary and community

(03:59):
sector, to be honest, to play abig role in terms of
collaborating together withother partners within their own
sector, but equally workingacross with the public sector to
try and alleviate some of thechallenges that we see in public
services today. And can

Rich Hurst (04:18):
you Esther, can you just let me know where exactly
the active Herefordshire andWorcestershire partnership falls
into all of that work? Yeah.

Esther Passingham (04:25):
So Steve Brewster, the CEO of active
Herefordshire andWorcestershire, is on the vcse
Alliance, which is the mainvehicle in Worcestershire that's
helping to develop this work.Steve is on our board, so he's
been integral from the beginningin how the alliance has
developed, and now we have aboard. He's an active member of

(04:46):
that board. But also we have aproject called Reach, which is
research engagement and

Christine Price (04:53):
community

Esther Passingham (04:54):
health. Community health. So we are
looking to do a pilot with at.Here for in Worcestershire, in
Worcester in the higher areas ofdeprivation around community
voice and community engagementand finding out what people
really need, and then activeHerefordshire and Worcestershire

(05:15):
are looking to then work inpartnership with local
organizations to deliver morephysical activities in those
communities.

Christine Price (05:23):
We've got a similar project, but we call it
clear, and I'm trying toremember they're both the same.
They're

Esther Passingham (05:29):
both about community research and
engagement and finding it'sthose seldom heard voices. So
it's not the people that go toGP, surg, you know, it's not the
people that are presenting on aregular basis at different
services. It's those thatgenerally are less visible in
the community, but are quiteoften really isolated. So it's

(05:51):
finding those people and makingsure they've got a

Rich Hurst (05:54):
voice. Esther, can you just for people who maybe
aren't aware of what it meanswhen we say ICS integrated care
system. What do we mean when wetalk about that?

Christine Price (06:03):
So new legislation came in two years
ago, which was designed to bringtogether local authority
partners with NHS partners tojointly plan and deliver health
and care in a more joined upway, integrate their services
more. So the old style ofcommissioning and providing

(06:26):
services is slightly different.In this model, there's a bit
more of a joint approach tothat, and I'd say it's evolving.
The reason Esther and I are bothleading on the alliances in both
counties is because there's arecognition nationally as part
of that legislation that thevoluntary sector and communities

(06:47):
themselves should play a verypivotal role in in that
delivery. I don't think anybodywould disagree with that, but
how you bring that about? Havinghad quite a disintegrated,
siloed system for a long time,takes some thought and some
effort to develop thepartnerships and collaborations

(07:10):
that make it happen.

Rich Hurst (07:12):
And as to this term, vcse, and what and what that
means. How well established isthat in Worcestershire?

Esther Passingham (07:20):
I think it's really well established across
the country, but Christine and Iwere saying earlier, it's it is
changing. I think that theeconomic situation has had a
really big impact on a lot, lotof the smaller charities and the
larger ones. The cost ofeverything has gone up so much
that it is meaning that there isa decrease in certain

(07:41):
organizations are closing, andthat's having a really negative
impact, but there's some thatare starting, and there are some
organizations that are becomingmore social, socially
entrepreneurial, and those arethe ones which have got more
innovative approaches that maybewe'll be seeing more of in the
future, but they've got a reallyimportant part to play in the

(08:05):
ICS, because they are closest tothose people that are most
vulnerable and have got thosetrusted relationships. So
they've got, they're wellestablished, but there's,
there's always it's, it's achanging area because of the
different pressures that are puton those organizations, from the
really small a couple ofvolunteers who do do the work in

(08:27):
their spare time, right up tothe national charities, they're
all having to continually findnew ways of doing things to meet
the needs Esther

Rich Hurst (08:36):
when it when it is all working. And obviously, you
know, without having to do allthe changing and adapting you
sometimes have to do when it isworking, because we are here to
talk about best practice. Whatdoes it look like when it is
working? Really well, who'sfeeding who, and helping who and
supporting who to do what.Essentially,

Esther Passingham (08:53):
I think in COVID was a really good example.
There were so many exampleswhere everybody didn't matter
which organization you werefrom, or if you're just a member
of the public, everybody muckedin because there was one vision,
one one main thing everybody wasworking towards, which was to
protect those most vulnerable inthe community. And I think we've

(09:13):
learned a lot from that. There'sstill more that we could do. I
think having one aim that we'reall working towards is really
fundamental. And while we've gotthat with the integrated care
system in that it's aboutimproving the health and well
being of our citizens andreducing health inequalities, in
reality, as Christine alluded toit, it's really challenging to

(09:36):
bring all of that together. So Ithink having trusted
partnerships is absolutely keyto this, because if we don't
trust each other as partners,it's so difficult to work
together effectively. So trustis huge, and then listening to
each other, genuinely beinginterested in what each partner
has, what their challenges are,what's working well, what are

(09:57):
the best practices? How can wejoin together? And be stronger
together and and all worktowards that aim, because it is,
it is a lot. There is a lot todo, but I think together, we
could achieve so much more.

Rich Hurst (10:10):
I want to explain, if you can help me to people how
it looks when what you do feeds,I suppose, takes what all those
organizations below you weredoing, and then takes that
information and distributes itin other places. How does that
look? Very often,

Christine Price (10:29):
traditionally, there'd be strategies and plans
that sit beneath that in thestatutory system and in a
traditional way of working,there'll be some engagement with
stakeholders in the communitysector and residents and so on.
But very often it's a bit latein the day and it feels a little
tokenistic when it's workingwell, those conversations start

(10:53):
much, much earlier, in the veryblank page stage where there
really is a genuine offer on thetable to get input from
voluntary community sector, andit's trying to bring together
what they've got to offer andsay and input both either as a

(11:13):
group of organizations thatcould deliver activity within
their communities, And it couldalso be around their voices,
telling the public sector what'shappening in those communities,
what they're seeing and hearingfrom the communities themselves,
which is hugely valuable. So Ithink there's when it works

(11:33):
well, and the communitypartnership in Herefordshire
seeks to do that is to bring allthose partners into a room on a
very regular basis where there'san opportunity to have those
conversations at the earliestpossible point, so that there's
an opportunity then to decide,Is there a collaboration here
that that we could then moveforward with? Could these people

(11:57):
come and get involved in Projectgroups and putting bids together
and business cases, so thatwe're bringing together pieces
of a whole, rather than it beinglate in the day. Oh, we've got
some funding. We're going to doa project. Is there anything the
voluntary sector can do to help?Actually, we'd have much rather

(12:17):
been at a place to have beenasked early, to have shaped the
bid, to have shaped the projectfrom the outset, so it becomes
something better than it wouldhave been if that not have been
the case. So I think it's aboutproviding those opportunities to
have those conversations and beopen and transparent early, to
shape things together as equallyas possible, given the

(12:42):
respective roles of the variouspublic bodies and the community
organizations.

Esther Passingham (12:49):
Can I add to that? At the moment, we've,
we've both got a project aroundhealth inequalities. So so in
Herefordshire, it's beendesigned specifically for
Herefordshire needs, and inWorcestershire, we've we've done
the same, and it's working withthose grassroots organizations
to who are closest to thosepeople that are vulnerable, who

(13:11):
need more support. And they'reactually involved with designing
the project, as Christine says.So it's not tokenistic. They're
in from the very beginning.They're saying, what is it
that's going to help them? It'snot, it's not being imposed on
them. They're designing theproject from the very beginning,
and then they'll be part of itall the way through, and be able

(13:31):
to then help others once they'vebeen through the process. So
it's disseminating thatinformation to other community
members who they've got thosetrusted relationships with
already. So that's sort of thesome of the stuff we were
already doing, but there's somuch more of that which we're
hoping to do in the future. I

Christine Price (13:48):
think, I think also from the other end, very
often what we hear in in publicsector is, how do we understand
and work with this huge array oforganizations in the community
sector. Hurst has about 2000voluntary and community groups.
That's a lot to be kept abreastof as they're changing all the

(14:11):
time, as their funding changes,and their focus might differ
from one year to the next, andWorcestershire would have
potentially even more than that,and I guess what we're trying to
achieve by setting Alliancestructures up that can find a
way to lead and bring along thevoluntary sector is to try and

(14:33):
create an easier way tointerface between the community
organizations and the Publicbodies who they know they'll
benefit from trying to workcloser with the voluntary
sector. But you know, with thebest will in the world, they
can't work with 1000s oforganizations. There needs to be
an organized way to to createthe conditions where they can

(14:56):
find the best way to makepartnerships work. And really
that's, that's what Esther and Iare trying to lead on for both
counties.

Esther Passingham (15:05):
In Worcestershire, we've identified
2717 organizations, but we knowthere's a lot more that aren't,
aren't registered, aren't youknow, they're just getting on
and doing the work. And withouttrawling through Facebook pages,
we where they're really hard toidentify, but Yeah, huge amount
of fantastic work going on. Andas I say, people are just

(15:28):
getting on and doing the work,and we want to as much as
possible join that up and makesure that we maximize the
potential and maximize theimpact that they're having.
Right?

Rich Hurst (15:41):
We'll get you back to the chat with Esther and
Christine shortly, but first,we're going to just wind back a
little bit to our previousepisode where we heard about how
to get funding with Hannahbruman, founder and CEO of in
unity, and Hannah Escott, who'sCEO of burlish Bike Park and
open trail. They both talkedabout their funding and grant
bid writing journeys frominitially starting small to

(16:04):
securing ongoing project fundingas their organizations evolved
and new opportunities emerged,there are some really useful
tips across the episode likethis from Hannah bruman,

Hannah Brooman (16:14):
we can all write what we want to do, how we're
going to do it, and thensuddenly someone goes, well, why
are you doing it? You're like,oh, I don't know. It just works.
I don't know. So really get toknow your why, and I say that
because we do a lot of work withgirls and young women. So a lot
of the funding that we've hadhas never been any kind of
sports connection. It's beensmaller trusts and foundations

(16:38):
that want to fund women's work,empowering women, whatever it
is, DV around women, but you canstill get sport in there. Sport
is, as I said, it's the bestengagement tool in my eyes,
obviously. So you can get thesport in there, but it is just
the engagement tool. So don'tget caught up on the sport
element. Try and look elsewherefor your funds.

Rich Hurst (16:56):
There's plenty more on the episode, so go back in
the feed and have a listen. Andwhilst you're there, see if any
of our other episodes in theseries can help you as well, and
make sure you subscribe to getour next episode. Okay, let's
get back now to the conversationwith Esther and Christine, and I
want to touch on people as well,people involved there. You speak

(17:16):
to the people that you workwith. What do you need from from
people within thoseorganizations to make it work.

Esther Passingham (17:23):
I think it's belief, belief that we can make
this happen. If we reallybelieve that we can do this, and
we will find a way, and we willsit and actually listen to each
other properly. You know abouthow think of all the ideas?
There's so many brilliant peoplein at both of our counties that
have got some amazing ideas, butwe don't make the time to sit

(17:45):
and talk and really understand.How can we make this work
together as a true partnershipwith that, that vision of really
bringing some vibrancy andinnovation to our counties?

Christine Price (17:56):
I think, I think one of the other things is
communities and voluntaryorganizations are always telling
us that they want to see moreeffort and investment and
delivery in prevention at theroot causes of some of the
problems that society has, asopposed to, you know, currently

(18:16):
we're in a fight or flight modein our Public Services where,
you know things are quite dire,and you know the money has to go
into acute sectors and fightingthe fires, left, right and
center, to provide what theyhave to provide. I think we all
know that if things were set upin a way where people got the

(18:38):
support they needed a lotsooner, prevention would be
better than cure, and I thinkequally, our partners do know
that. So in the NHS, it'sfrustrating that they know that
that's the case, but it'sactually hard to turn the tide
and invest in that whilst you'vestill got many demands on the

(18:59):
sharper end of things. So it isa difficult shift to bring
about, but it is the rightshift, and it's the shift that
community, organizations andcommunities want to see. I think
the challenge is, how one how doyou bring it about? But I think
one of the ways your questionabout, How do we work together

(19:19):
to achieve it, I think Esther'spoint is right. We have to
believe it's possible. And Ithink the other, the other part
is, you know, funding and theway that community organizations
have worked is often thatthey're pitted against each
other. They're competing fordiminishing pots of money and
funds here and there. And Ithink we could do better to come

(19:42):
together and think what is acollaborative way that we could
maximize those funds, and whoreally is the best organization
to lead on this initiative orthat initiative, and is there a
better model in partnership thanthere is in competition? And
sometimes the answer be yes, andsome. Times the answer would be
no, but I do think that a verymature attitude is required for

(20:06):
us to think about what thatmight look like, to trust our
partners a little bit more, andthink about who's got the best
skills to do the particular jobin hand and and how might we
support that organizationinstead of compete with them, so
that's quite a difficult thingto bring around when you're just
trying to keep the lights on,and your mission as a charity is

(20:28):
to survive. Often that leadspeople down a path of survival
rather than doing what theyprobably know is the right
thing.

Rich Hurst (20:38):
Okay. Have either of you got any examples of
organizations that you've beenworking with where you've,
you've seen a bit of thatflourish, or you've even, you
know, I know the minute, we havejust been talking about pure
survival. But are there anyparticular organizations you've
seen that are flourishing, oryou think have the potential to
have things in the right placeat the minute that could see

(20:59):
working with the Alliance themgrow

Christine Price (21:02):
so in Herefordshire, one organization
that springs to mind isHerefordshire Community Farm,
and they provide a range ofactivities for animal therapy
and land based therapies in outin the green nature to For
people with a learningdisability or people with mental

(21:23):
health issues. They have beensuccessful in a few different
funds this year to support theirwork, and at the heart of what
they're trying to do is is acouple of key things that have
enabled the success. One is areally significant community
asset transfer from the Councilof an old farm and building and

(21:49):
has huge potential to give thema place in an area of
deprivation of the city, toreally serve that local area
with something different. Andthe other is, is some funding
that will support them over thenext couple of years to develop
a range of projects in thatsetting. And what they've tried

(22:09):
to focus on is getting to theroots of connection. So thinking
about loneliness, isolation,people who potentially don't
work or might be isolated andreally benefit from developing
skills in an environment thatsuits them better than perhaps

(22:29):
mainstream education or, youknow, the workplace. And some of
the activities that they'restarting to develop as they move
to their new site in their inthe farm in Hereford is working
alongside other partners thatcan come in use that space.
They're not looking to crosscharge each other for things,

(22:50):
but it's a symbioticrelationship that can bring
things together that justbenefit the local community. So
cooking and growing schemes,growing produce, providing cook
schools for local children andfamilies, so they learn how to
cook good food from the basics.They're outdoors bringing in
mental health support andcounseling support from other

(23:13):
charities. So really thinkingmore holistically and not
thinking in a silo, of justdelivering what they always
deliver, and they're thinkingmuch more about, what does our
local community want to needmore holistically? And I think,
I think probably one of the keythings, obviously, is funding.
And they've been successful.But, you know, because they've

(23:35):
put forward an innovative,holistic bid for providing
something that is multifactorialfor the local community. But I
think the other key is thatgift, really of a community
asset transfer that they have.Often, when you look at
successful community projects,many of them do start with

(23:57):
something like that, so they'vegot a real asset to be starting
with. Okay,

Rich Hurst (24:01):
good. Is there anything that sprung to your
mind where you're working at

Esther Passingham (24:04):
the minute this? Yeah, there's so many
examples. I was just thinkingactually around the mental
health collaboration that we'vedeveloped as partners. So it's
slightly different example inthat it's lots of different
providers that didn't worktogether traditionally, but
through some work that we'vebeen doing together and the

(24:25):
Alliance has facilitated, theyare now working together in a
true partnership. And actuallywe're looking at how else we can
join things up in the future, somuch more seamless referrals,
and support the largerorganizations, supporting the
smaller organizations, jointfunding bids, all of the
benefits of collaboratingeffectively have started to come

(24:46):
to fruition through thispartnership that we've
developed, and with some fundingto start it off, through the
Health and Care Trust and andwe're now looking to get
external funding from from othersources. And that's a really
great example of how just byworking together, we can start
to do more. But the the other,the other example will be, say,

(25:08):
in Worcester, we've gotWorcester Community Trust, which
originally was three differentcharities, or working separately
with community assets. And I wasinvolved years ago now, but of
joining that open to becomeWorcester Community Trust, where
there's a whole range ofcommunity buildings and
projects, from domestic abusethrough to youth groups through

(25:28):
to disability groups and andthat momentum that's been built
now is is absolutelytransformative in some of those
communities. It's made such adifference over the years and
with new management andleadership, they're looking at
how else they can become evenmore sustainable for the future
and making the most of thosecommunity assets. So there's

(25:50):
some great examples like that,and so many more in
Worcestershire. It's hard topinpoint just a few, but that's
just some examples of where it'sgoing, really, really well, and
there's so much more to buildon. Great

Rich Hurst (26:05):
we very quickly hit the end of the podcast. So I
want to finish on this idea offor somebody, not necessarily
one person, but group of people,who have to approach the same
thing you did, where many groupstogether in one place, many
groups doing different thingsthat will benefit so much more
from coming together. What sortof advice or tips do you give to
making that work, to bringingthose groups together? What the

(26:26):
things you think of that alwayswork best?

Christine Price (26:29):
I think one of the key things is to go where
the energy is, to start withthere are always movers and
shakers that are passionateabout this, and I think it's
harnessing that as as yourchampions to to get things
started. And I think the otherbit, for me, is about
recognizing everybody has gotsomething to put in the pot. And

(26:53):
it's about how we piece thattogether, collectively, to, you
know, what's the collective aimthat we're looking to do, what?
What would help everybody, andwhat's the different role that
different partners bring to thetable? And I think you can't
really do that unless you areopen, transparent and willing to
trust one another. So thosewould be my key foundations.

Esther Passingham (27:15):
Love him. Esther, what about you? 100%
agree with that and but yeah,just thinking of it from a
different angle. I think that weare all under so much pressure
to make these changes andimprove things and improve
society for everybody, andreduce those inequalities, and
sometimes forget about our ownself care. And I think making

(27:36):
sure that we invest in ourselvesas individuals is really
important so that we can be asresilient as possible and and
use as much of our innovationtogether as possible. So
investing in our training andand our own self care is a key
part of this, as well as workingtogether.

Rich Hurst (27:54):
Because there is, there is, in some cases, the
opportunity for people withinany of these sectors to, I
think, go on leadership trainingmodules, and it just gives a
tiny bit more about that.

Esther Passingham (28:02):
So the integrated care system has an
academy with seven faculties,faculties, and the vcsc does
have a faculty, although it's inits infancy. But one of the
things is across all of thefaculties is a Mary Siegel
leadership program, and it isdiscounted. There is still a
cost to it, but it's heavilydiscounted for all partners,

(28:22):
including voluntary communitysector organizations. And that
is apparently a brilliantprogram for leaders or aspiring
leaders to go on. So we wantmore and more examples of that
that's either heavily discountedor free training for for our
workforce, because I say thatinvestment is so important, and

(28:43):
there's some so much morecapacity and latent potential in
in the workforce, in the sector,for the future, that we really
need great

Rich Hurst (28:50):
opportunity ahead for a lot of people then, yeah,
including yourselves, guys.Thank you very much for being
with us today. Thank you forbeing thank you for talking
through through what you do, andthe great stuff I'm sure is
going to come from it goingforward. Thank you. Thanks so
big. Thanks to Esther andChristine for their time.
Hopefully you've got some greattakeaways from what they had to

(29:11):
say. We've added plenty of linksin the show notes about their
respective organizations, aswell as funding partnership and
other community Bodies. If youwant to find out more about what
active Herefordshire andWorcestershire Do you can go to
their website which is activehw.co.uk, remember, there's a
new episode of this podcastevery month. Make sure you
subscribe and keep an eye onactive Herefordshire and

(29:32):
Worcestershire's social channelsfor details. In the meantime,
thank you very much forlistening. Look forward to
welcoming you back into theactive best practice network
very soon you.