Health, Social Care & Well-Being...
Building Strong Bridges (BSB)
Introduction
There are more than 700 voluntary organisations engaged in providing health and well being services, and related activities, in Rhondda Cynon Taff. The voluntary sector is playing an increasingly important role in both service provision and in the representation of the views and interests of service users. Voluntary organisations supplement and work in tandem with statutory services and many examples of partnership working between the voluntary and statutory sectors exist. Voluntary organisations are represented on partnership bodies at national and local level. Partnership working between voluntary, statutory and other organisations will grow under current proposals for health and well being services in Wales.
Background
The Building Strong Bridges (BSB) documentwas published by the Welsh Assembly Government, in October 2002, and the initiative aims to provide an opportunity to build strong bridges between the NHS and the voluntary sector at national, regional and local levels. The Welsh Assembly Government recognised that the voluntary sector is a key partner in delivering its health & well being policy, outlined in Designed for Life, and made financial resources available to support the work. Through the BSB initiative WCVA and the County Voluntary Councils have supported joint working between the sector and local authorities and local health boards.
Designed for Life published by the Welsh Assembly Government in 2005 sets out a way ahead for health services and social services in Wales. Its long-term aim is to support a radical redesign of services and a far greater emphasis on clinical quality, health promotion and early intervention. This will be taken forward through a series of 3-year strategic frameworks.
Building Strong Bridges (BSB) contains twenty-three recommendations. It outlines how partnership working should be delivered to ensure that the voluntary sector’s contribution is strengthened. This will underpin the new roles and relationship of the voluntary sector and its partners at all levels in the restructured NHS in Wales. These include:
- Identifying opportunities to strengthen voluntary sector partnerships to reduce health inequalities
- Supporting disadvantaged groups to be involved in the planning process
- Supporting innovative developments involving Health and Social care partners
- Strengthening local and national support structures so that the voluntary sector can play its full part in the planning, development, commissioning & delivery of services
- Strengthening partnership working between the statutory Health & Social Care organisations and the voluntary sector and partnership working between voluntary sector organisations
- The development of local and national Volunteering for Health & Social Care initiatives
The Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and the local County Voluntary Councils (CVCs) are two main delivery mechanisms for BSB and these are provided through Local and National support.
Local Support is provided by the Health and Social Care Facilitators.
One of the key recommendations in BSB was for the appointment by the County Voluntary Councils of local Health & Social Care Facilitators for each of the twenty-two Local Health Boards. Facilitators are supporting partnership working between the voluntary sector and health social care agencies in identifying and addressing local need by developing the Health, Social Care & Well Being agenda.
Building Strong Bridges has significantly increased public involvement in identifying local needs, and has the potential to stimulate new thinking about how the sector can help to deliver services, particularly focusing in community based support, and tackling causes of ill health.
In some areas, additional health funding linked to the Townsend and Wanless reviews has provided an opportunity for local health boards to make a significant investment in community-based services within the sector.
RCT Health & Social Care Facilitator:
Ann Philpott
Email: aphilpott@interlinkrct.org.uk
Link to Building Strong Bridges website: