Working Together and Sharing Information

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Working together and sharing information

VCS event 14 June 2016

KP notes

Cllr Hargrove – welcome

Many people have a feeling of being disenfranchised – powerless against powerful global forces
Democratic deficit among the ‘have nots’
Health inequalities
We need people power – people taking part in civic society
The council has been successful in shaping the borough – we have got on top of our housing function. Lots of people now want to be council tenants.
We need to get people out and get them doing things with their neighbours.

Dick Frak & Mike Wilson

We have looked at what has emerged from the previous events and found common ground between the sectors
What would a deeper collaboration look like?
What can we achieve together that we cannot do alone?
Example – high proportion of people in Walworth in mental distress. Is there a shared problem? Disintegration of a rich social fabric. 2 big regeneration schemes have found it hard to engage those most affected. What do we each uniquely bring to the engagement issues? Who is not around the table who can help solve these problems – is this the informal networks – e.g businesses such as barbers.

Workshop – working together and sharing information

SAIL model – safe and independent living model for older people– GPs like it when it works well. CCG are now looking at it as a model for working with children and young people and people with mental health issues. Also – health development workers and dementia navigators.
GP federations – providing appointment outside core hours eg til 8pm.
There are people who turn up at GP surgeries who don’t have a diagnosable medical problem and need referring to other services.
Difficulty of navigating the system – found by Healthwatch working with Latin American, Vietnamese and Somali Communities.
Lots of organisations people traditionally went to no longer exist.
Lack of trust in newer organisations / projects.
Sometimes people need to be physically taken to a service.
It can take 18 months to 2 years to build up a relationship with local people.
There is not a lack of information about services – there is too much.
Funding timescales are too short. It takes about 6 months to set up a project and another 6 months to ‘ground’ it.
Very difficult to get continuity funding.
Contracts are not flexible enough to measure outcomes over a long time.
People come together to do something – but as soon as it’s ‘mainstreamed’ they fall away.
Giving funding to specific neighbourhoods results in a postcode lottery. Funding should be spread equally across the borough.
The council / CCG should tap into what the community wants to do and not distort it.
We need a 2 year funding cycle.
What we want to achieve is better outcomes for residents.
Christmas!!! always happens at a crucial point in the funding cycle.
Planning should start a lot earlier.
We need continuous prototyping and testing, as designers do with physical products.
New Dulwich health centre is a good example of the VCS voice being heard in the planning – this is a long term project.
Met police have data on their website designed to be presented at neighbourhood panels for ease of use and understanding.
The creative process takes time.

One action from each group

Review communication channels between the statutory and voluntary sector to see what’s working
Form collaborative partnerships to find the common goal
Come up with a mechanism for sharing information – along the lines of Local Care Networks and VCS hubs
Ensure information is high quality and timely.
Re-focus on long term outcomes – be clear and commit to getting away from the short term.
Ensure early involvement of residents and the VCS in planning of services.