Team profile: Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Alliance
BSW Together Integrated Care System is made up of a number of different teams and workstreams all working together to help improve health and wellbeing for the people of BSW. In the first of a new series, we take a look at the work of the BSW Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise system level Alliance
Overview:
Voluntary sector organisations play an important role in our local health and care system. There are over 2880 different VCSE groups all across the BSW area with a combined income of just over £1bn, many of which BSW Together works with. All of them help to provide invaluable support to our populations and our health and care services.
Who is involved?
To ensure the voices of all of these organisations are heard and their experiences and views taken into account as we plan services, their views are represented by three Councils for Voluntary Services (CVSs), which are also sometimes referred to as infrastructure organisations.
In BSW the three CVSs, 3sG, Voluntary Action Swindon, Wessex Community Action and Community First, the Rural Community Council for Wiltshire and Swindon, are working with BSW Together to ensure that the right VCSE input is sought for decisions made on a locality level through their respective place based VCSE alliances.
Pam Webb CEO of Voluntary Action Swindon is Partner Member for Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) on the BSW Integrated Care Board. You can find out more about Pam here https://bsw.icb.nhs.uk/team-members/pam-webb/
BSW ICS also works with three separate Healthwatch services in BaNES, Swindon and Wiltshire. They are the independent champions of health and social care and seek to understand the needs, experiences and concerns of people who use health and social care services and to speak out on their behalf. Representatives from the three Healthwatch services across BSW join the three CVs and the Rural Community Council to form the BSW VCSE Alliance to ensure that community engagement work is joined up.
What work is the BSW system level VCSE Alliance involved in?
The BSW Alliance is developing in tandem with BSW Together and BSW Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB). So far the Alliance has been establishing its role in the BSW ICB, developing its governance and terms of reference and has offered views and feedback on important pieces of developing work including the BSW Health and Care model, which you can find more about here: BSW Health and Care model. The group has also supported by offering views on BSW population health programme, BSW Together’s constitution and has also been involved in the development of BSW’s place based alliances in BaNES, Swindon and Wiltshire.
You can find out more about our VCSE partners and their work here: VCSE Sector and BSW ICS
You can also find out more about our VCSE partners here:
3SG is a membership network of over 190 charities, social enterprises and community groups in Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES) https://www.3sg.org.uk
Voluntary Action Swindon is a charity that helps other charities. They enable and develop the local voluntary and community sector through advice and training, running campaigns and events, supporting networks and representing sector views to policymakers. https://vas-swindon.org/
Wessex Community Action – Wessex Community Action’s mission is to improve the wellbeing of people living in the Wiltshire area by providing help, advice, training and support to community and voluntary organisations. www.wessexcommunityaction.org.uk/
Community First – From championing local community causes to managing multi-million pound projects, we are proud to support vibrant communities and brighter futures for the people who live and work in Wiltshire and Swindon. Find out more about our charity and its work. www.communityfirst.org.uk