NHS England and NCVO are keen to support voluntary organisations around England to have a greater role in delivering the transformations that are envisaged through STPs and accountable care systems.

This will require:

– Public sector bodies to understand and be able to engage with the full range of ways that the voluntary sector can contribute strategically to health and wellbeing transformation – not least in terms of prevention, community
involvement and equalities agendas
– Voluntary organisations to be well organised at STP geographical footprint level and have the necessary relationships to engage in this way.

Our sense of the picture around the country is that some STPs have gone further towards this than others. This can be because of cultural and structural biases within the NHS, compounded by financial and capacity challenges, and some of it could be the result of a diverse and poorly coordinated or resourced voluntary sector, particularly at the geographical areas covered by STPs.

The project aims to understand and overcome these, and other challenges, by facilitating better collaborative and governance approaches within the STP that include the voluntary sector.

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