Sector leaders reach consensus on conditions for building engaging and empowering communities
For the first time, care leaders are offering a clear way of making sure that community centred approaches are embedded in health and social care services. The clear set of principles and actions are launched today by the Think Local Act Personal Partnership on the first day of the annual National Children’s & Adults Services Conference in Manchester.
Engaging and Empowering Communities: A Shared Commitment and Call to Action offers a compelling case for working collaboratively to create strong and empowered communities, and for this to be central to the transformation of the health and care sector. It’s co-authored by all national health and care system leaders including The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, Coalition for Collaborative Care, Local Government Association, Public Health England, Association of Directors of Public Health, the Department of Health and NHS England.
The report was produced following a National Leaders’ Seminar on community and citizen empowerment, attended by NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens, which called for national agencies to work together in realising the policy ambitions of the Care Act and Five Year Forward View.
The report argues for the need to build strong and inclusive communities that can address persistent health and wellbeing inequalities. Key principles and broad actions are set out with a commitment from key partners to develop a detailed plan to support practical actions on the ground.
Kate Sibthorp and Clenton Farquharson, members of TLAP’s National Co-production Advisory Group, said: “A better life for me is just common sense. What we need is for this collaboration to result in all the parts of the system working together to help better lives be a common experience for everyone who use health, care and support services. People who work in this area need to be reminded that knowing you should do something about it is not the same as actually doing something about it. Organisations need to create the conditions for this shared commitment to work, and central to this is having good relationships so we can all work together to support practical action on the ground.
We welcome this report whole-heartedly and hope it will inspire genuine commitment to working with people and communities. We look forward to hearing and sharing lots more stories of how people are achieving their best health and well-being, both physical and emotional, through this approach.”
Alex Fox, CEO of Shared Lives Plus and Think Local, Act Personal’s board lead for building community capacity, said:
“There have always been aspects of our lives, such as the health of our lifestyles or how connected we feel to others, that have a huge impact on our health and wellbeing and long term use of services. At a time when budgets are more and more stretched, the organisations and resources outlined in the shared commitment will show the help that is out there for hard-pressed commissioners in working with people who use services to develop the health and care system we need, rather than manage the one we have.”
Lynda Tarpey, Director of Think Local Act Personal, said:
“There is clear consensus amongst sector leaders that people and communities must be central to the redesign of care and other public sector services, using approaches that go beyond traditional statutory interventions. Increasing evidence from research and practice demonstrates that building community and helping people to develop social networks has the potential to address wellbeing, improve outcomes as well as more effectively apportion limited public finances”.
Anu Singh, NHS England’s Director of Patient and Public Voice and Insight said:
NHS England is delighted to sign up to the Shared Commitment to Engaging and Empowering Communities. The NHS Five Year Forward View sets out our vision to develop a new relationship with people and communities. Aligning the work of national agencies is critical to creating the conditions for success and delivering the ambition to reposition the nation’s health on a social, rather than biomedical model that supports people and communities to manage their health, wellbeing and care. We are looking forward to working together to help make this a reality."
Martin Farran, Director of Adult Services for York City Council, said:
"I welcome the Shared Commitment across local government and the NHS. It’s a crucial next step to personalising people’s care and support and the "commitment" supports a community asset based approach critical to the transformation of the health and social care system.”
Dr Brian Fisher, GP and Vice-Chair of New NHS Alliance, said:
“The New NHS Alliance is committed to the key ideas and actions recommended in this document – we welcome it. In particular, we see that the NHS and local authorities need to work together with communities to help create health and build confidence and resilience. We see these approaches as essential to shift towards a greater focus of the social determinants of health, health inequalities and improving the control people have over their lives. Working on these issues with other agencies such as housing will be the next paradigm health improvement.”
Catherine Wilton, Director of the Collation for Collaborative Care, said:
“We know that things need to change- councils, clinical commissioning groups and doctors can't 'prescribe' wellbeing- it comes from having friends, family, social contact and support, being able to get out and about, having the opportunity to do something for others and feeling valued for our contributions through paid and unpaid work or being part of a group.
It's fantastic that national sector leaders are demonstrating a shared commitment to create the conditions for strong and healthy communities. With our partners, the Coalition for Collaborative Care aims to achieve change on the ground. We want to see a shift away from 'What's the matter with you?' to 'What matters to you?' by local people and organisations coming together to nurture and build on the assets in local communities, reducing loneliness and social isolation, increasing community resilience and enabling people to take control of managing their own health.”