Invitation

Developing Greater Manchester Cancer Board’s

VCSE Advisory Group

Date: December 13th2016

Time: 9am – 1:30pm (lunch between 1:30-2:30pm)

Venue: Seminar Room 9 &10, Mayo Building, Salford Royal, M6 8HD

If you interested in attending would like more information, please contact:

01138 255 048

This is a workshop of only approx. 25 people so please contact me to book a place.

Aim

Develop an effective mechanism to ensure voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations have meaningful two way engagement, and are able to provide guidance and advice to the GM Cancer Board.

Background

GM Cancer System Board

The GM Cancer System Board is a newly forming board that will hold GM’s cancer system to account. It comprises 11 voting members and 13 non-voting members from across the cancer system including; commissioners, local authorities, people affected by cancer, GPs, public health, clinicians, research and education, and provider trusts. The board is currently seekingsupport from a VCSE advisory group, which will provide a VCSE representative at Cancer System Board meetings.

In order for the GM Cancer System Board to achieve its ambitions the board will need to engage with what is a broad range of VCSE organisations involved across the cancer pathway, from prevention through to living with and beyond. There is also a great need to work with all of the diverse communities within GM, especially with those who experience additional barriers to accessing health services to reduce the health inequalities experienced within the cancer system.

National Cancer organisations:

National organisations such as Macmillan and CRUK fund and deliver a large amount of the cancer improvement work in GM, whilst agencies such as the Teenage Cancer Trust and Clic Sergeant deliver services within many of our acute care settings. There are also national charities focussed on specific tumour sites, such as Prostate Cancer UK or Beating Bowel Cancer, who have expert knowledge. These large cancer specific charities, and their local resources and insights, need to be represented.

VCSE Organisations in GM

  • It is estimated that GM has 14,592 voluntary organisations working every day to improve the lives of local people and communities through a wide range of services, with 9 out of 10 organisations being small or micro organisations.
  • Over a third of the voluntary sector in Greater Manchester works in health and well-being (37 per cent)
  • The total income of the sector in the city region was estimated to be £1 billion in 2011/12

*Information taken from State of the Voluntary Sector 2013, A Report of Social and Economic Impact, GMVCO

The situation

The GM Cancer System Board believes that there needs to be representation from the VCSE Sector, and see the VCSE Advisory Group as a way to gather a cohesive opinion from the sector. This would enable the VCSE Sector to come together in a way not recently seen in regard to cancer, and enable those partners to define the VCSE Advisory Group’s role and function.

The VCSE Advisory Group will need to talk to, influence and deliver to the objectives of the GM Cancer System Board:

  • Improving prevention, screening and early detection
  • Delivering faster and better diagnosis and meeting the cancer waiting time targets set out in NHS planning guidance
  • Improving outcomes with a focus on survival
  • Improving patient experience
  • Delivering high quality, compliant, coordinated and equitable services
  • Improving services for people living with and beyond cancer and at the end of life
  • Increasing research and innovative practice

In light of this the GM Cancer System Board will need to develop a meaningful, two way relationship with VCSE organisations who are:

  • Cancer specific organisations
  • Working with communities who experience additional barriers to services and/or are disproportionally affected by cancer
  • Working within the wider health and wellbeing context that links to the prevention agenda e.g. exercise groups, community cooking courses etc.
  • Support people to die well (including hospices and faith groups)
  • Support people to live with and beyond cancer

The board is particularly looking for the VCSE Sector to:

  • Advise GM Cancer System Board on the implementation of the GM Cancer Strategy.
  • Identify opportunities where VCSEs can contribute towards the implementation of the plan, both individually and as a collective.
  • Have a particular focus on planning and implementing the prevention & early detection agenda and survivorship.
  • Horizon scan for upcoming issues that may affect the GM cancer programme.

The task: Developing the mechanism of engagement

VCSE organisations and members of the GM Cancer System Board need to come together and draw up a workable mechanism of engagement, that maximises the opportunities for both the VCSE organisations and GM Cancer System Board.

We expect the mechanism to consist of:

  • VCSEto allocate a representative who attends the GM Cancer System Board meetings
  • VCSE to develop a method of gathering insight from various VCSE organisations, so the representative is truly representative. This would involve working with:

-The local representatives of national cancer charities

- Local VCSE organisations

- All other VCSE organisations in GM (such as equality focused organisations and wider health and wellbeing organisations i.e. walking groups) would engage through the representative from the VCSE Devolution Reference Group*.

  • VCSE and GM Cancer System Board developing a method to feedback to various VCSE organisations without breaching confidentially agreements.
  • VCSE and GM Cancer System Board to agree how the VCSE representative can fairly hold the system to account, if they are part of the system.

*VCSE Devolution Reference Group

Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership have developed a relationship with VCSE organisations across GM through the VCSE Devolution Reference Group. This group seeks to promote the role and involvement of the VCSE sector and communities in devolution and it comprises of individuals from eighteen voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations from across Greater Manchester.

Their key messages are:

  • We are many. The army of staff, volunteers and supporters across the sector is a catalyst for change and a connector of people
  • Our role is critical for the economic success of devolution in Greater Manchester but also for the equally important cultural and social devolution that will help build a truly equal region
  • We can devise, develop and deliver solutions to some of the most challenging problems faced by Greater Manchester, breaking down barriers and building community confidence and cohesion, and ensure we move from crisis resolution to anticipation and prevention
  • We understand our communities. We can help drive people-powered change, harnessing social action and bridging the gap that can exist between public services and the people they serve

Figure 1

Proposed structure of GM Cancer System Board’s Engagement with VCSE

Next steps:

A workshop has been suggested to bring key stakeholders together;

  • VCSE organisations involved in Cancer Vanguard projects
  • VCSE organisations that are members of GM VCSE Devolution Reference Group
  • Members of the GM Cancer System Board

Through this focused workshop we would want to establish:

  • Who will represent VCSE organisations at the GM Cancer System Board?
  • How VCSE organisations will engage with their representative, so they have the ability to representative the vast VCSE organisations involved in cancer in GM?
  • How the GM Cancer System Board would engage with the wider VCSE organisations?

Draft Agenda

Time / Activity / Objective
9:00 –9:20 / Welcome and Introductions to the board from Cancer System Board member.
Presentation on GM Cancer Plan. / Setting objectives for the day
9:20- 9:50 / Table top discussion: How could this group support the delivery of this plan? / Discuss initial ideas about what the VCSE sector could offer to the system Board to support the ambitions of the board to be achieved.
9:50 –10:00 / Representative from GM VCSE Devolution Reference Group to share methods used to enable engagement for VCSE organisations with GM Health & Social Care Partnership. / Information sharing.
10:00 – 10:30 / Table top discussion:
How could learning apply to the Advisory Group? / Discuss initial ideas about engagementstrategy between System Board and Advisory Group.
15min Break
10:45- 11:30 / Table top discussions:
How do we best relate to the Cancer System Board? / Establishing a workable method of engaging with VCSE Representative.
For example, how frequently would the Advisory Group need to meet? Who should attend?
11:30- 12:15 / Table top discussions:
How does the board best relate to the Advisory Group? / Establishing a workable method of VCSE Advisory group to engaging with the System Board.
For example, would board members attend VCSE Advisory meetings? A rotating representative at the Cancer System Board?
15min Break
12:30 – 1:00 / Choosing a representative. / Appoint a representative to attend the Cancer System Board meeting December 16th.
1pm- 1:30pm / Summing up / Confirm next steps and actions
Lunch and networking 1:30pm-2:30pm

Request

If you interested in attending would like more information, please contact:

01138 255 048

This is a workshop of only approx. 25 people so please contact me to book a place.