Lynne Connolly, Helpforce Cymru Manager, reflects on a session held at WCVA’s flagship gofod3 event.
WCVA’s Health and Care Project hosted a session at gofod3 in Cardiff City Stadium to discuss the new Bevan Commission paper: The value and values of the third sector: collaboration with the statutory sector to deliver health and social care in Wales.
The paper explores the current context around health and care across the country, and how the voluntary sector’s role can be maximised to the benefit of all.
I was thrilled, as the new Helpforce Cymru Manager, to attend gofod3 for the first time and to take part in this session. The room was buzzing with energy as the panel and audience explored the challenges and benefits of the report’s recommendations, from both statutory and voluntary sector viewpoints.
THE NEED FOR CHANGE
In Wales, there’s been much investment in health and social care, supported by a skilled workforce. However, the system is under pressure and it’s clear that just adding more money and staff isn’t enough – we need to find new ways to collaborate and make improvements. Changing how we do things in the face of reduced funding, a growing and aging population and increasing living costs is essential.
Working across different sectors naturally throws up different challenges. However, I’m keen to concentrate on three key areas that often came up in our discussions as having potential for significant impact through effective collaboration: commissioning, data sharing, and making best use of our infrastructure.
A CONTRACTING CULTURE VS COPRODUCTION APPROACHES
Commissioning was identified as a barrier to successful collaboration. The statutory sector encounters challenges in procurement, regulation, and evaluating service quality. Meanwhile, voluntary organisations have found barriers such as:
- competing for tenders instead of receiving grant funding
- dealing with short-term project-based funding (leading to high staff turnover and unsustainable services)
- lack of an exit strategy when new services are developed (like finding alternative funding sources or transferring vital services to a new partner)
- not being engaged early enough in commissioning processes
Concerns around the voluntary sector having little say in commissioning were discussed.
Kate Mitchell, the Lead Commissioner for adult community and voluntary sector services at Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, shared how working with the voluntary sector on collaborative commissioning has led to new ways of working and improved outcomes in Cornwall community hubs. That project was evaluated by Helpforce, and more information about its benefits and outcomes can be found here.
If this collaborative commissioning approach were applied more widely, it could ease pressure on statutory services, improve people’s well-being, and strengthen relationships between sectors.
CREATING A DATA-SHARING CULTURE
Knowledge is power, and sharing data between sectors is important because it allows us to know what’s working well and what isn’t. If we are only seeing one part of the data puzzle, how can we take a whole family or system-wide approach to the planning and delivery of services?
Some of the common blockages to cross-sector sharing of data include:
- Worries about data sharing violating confidentiality or GDPR rules
- No legal framework or agreements for data sharing between public and voluntary sector organisations
- Data capture and usage not integrated into projects from the start
- Limited resources and the complexity of systems make it hard to develop data-sharing mechanisms
- Lack of trust, training, and guidance
Sharing data is crucial for collaboration. Without it, proving the benefits of working together and advocating for more support is difficult. The paper recommends public bodies collect data to show how the voluntary sector contributes to essential services.
Here’s a couple of ways you can help create a data-sharing culture:
- Encourage sharing anonymized data and health trends between sectors
- Organise or host multi-agency learning events and share data on specific issues or workstreams
CONNECTING AND COLLABORATING ACROSS THE INFRASTRUCTURE
Health and social care professionals and organisations work well together toward shared goals when the right conditions for collaboration are in place.
With local, regional and national networks and tools for effective collaboration already established, how can we make best use of and further develop what we have in place?
At gofod3, several key ingredients for successful collaboration were highlighted, for example:
- better understanding and consideration of each other’s needs across sectors
- the importance of early engagement and inclusivity
- the power of effective and trusted working relationships across sectors
Sometimes, there are gaps in understanding. For example, voluntary organisations may not always know about statutory requirements, and statutory bodies might not understand the challenges of short-term funding and limited early involvement with the voluntary sector.
The discussion highlighted the consequences of inadequate early engagement and consultation in projects. Examples showed that poor early involvement can lead to delays and complications. Without realistic deadlines, representatives from the voluntary sector often struggle to collect feedback from various charities, making it more challenging to create effective local solutions.
To improve health and social care in Wales, it’s crucial to find ways to connect, communicate, and collaborate across sectors. Many successful partnerships already exist. Section 10 of the paper highlights several case studies showing their effectiveness.
TAKING OWNERSHIP OF CHANGE
People in health and social care are motivated by their compassion for others, and this dedication to caring motivates us to overcome challenges.
Finding time and funding can be a challenge, but we can still make progress by focusing on small, achievable changes within our reach. Here are my top three things to focus on:
- Improve your understanding of the challenges faced by each sector and adapt working methods accordingly.
- Prioritise and nurture trusted working relationships across different sectors
- Review the recommendations from the paper and implement small, achievable changes
TAKING THINGS FURTHER
What do you think about the recommendations in the paper and what changes will you make to improve collaboration? You can tell us by emailing healthandcare@wcva.cymru, or dropping us a line on X, LinkedIn or Facebook.
Feel free to share our paper within your networks.
Visit the WCVA Health and Care Project page for more information.