In September VONNE hosted an event at One Strawberry Lane, Newcastle, for network members and stakeholders of the Healthy Communities and Social Prescribing programme. This programme, which is part of the Integrated Care Board’s (ICB’s) Healthier and Fairer workstream, challenges the health inequalities which are so pervasive in the North East and North Cumbria and supports the development of social prescribing capacity within the health and care sector. Over 35 VCSE organisations were represented and many members of the ICB, including Siobhan Brown, Director of Healthier and Fairer, providing a broad spectrum of opinion and experience.
The theme was ‘Our People, Our Culture’, looking at workforce challenges and priorities. We heard two fascinating case examples for the VCSE sector and heard from the ICB about ongoing work in the health service.
Describing workforce priorities for social prescribing in Teesside and Cumbria, Lucy Cushley from Teesside Mind and Sarah Penn from Cumbria CVS stressed the importance of employment models which allow for networking, training and progression and recommended more shared training for the statutory and VCSE sectors to increase common understanding. To find out more about Cumbria CVS’s social prescribing work you can read our spotlight feature here.
Martin Wilson from Arts organisation TIN Arts spoke about the vision and priorities for the North East and North Cumbria Child Health and Wellbeing Network (CHWN), the importance of building a strong cultural workforce and how this workforce can inform and influence the work of the CHWN and wider health and social care policy.
Representatives of the ICB explained the People and Culture strategy, which looks at the pillars that support a happy, healthy and efficient workforce across the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) and the implementation of the Healthier and Fairer ‘whole system approach’ which is integral for future plans. Lively table discussions followed, exploring links and opportunities for the VCSE as our health service changes and develops. Many of the discussions focussed around common themes – recruitment, retention, training and progression for link workers, the trusted position that VCSE organisations have in communities, enabling effective preventative work, and the opportunities and challenges of building stronger links between the NHS and VCSE sector.
“The event was a good way of checking in with what is happening across the region in relation to Social Prescribing and the many ways it is being delivered.” Susan Garrett, Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, Durham Community Action.
The event was delivered as part of the Healthy Communities and Social Prescribing programme, hosted by VONNE. If you would like to hear about future events happening as part of the programme, learn about and share examples of excellence from across our communities, hear about future funding and investment opportunities, and help shape the work on the programme, sign up to our Healthy Communities and Social Prescribing Network.