Charities should play a central role in NHS decision making and delivery, a new government-backed report says.
In the largest ever review of the voluntary sector’s involvement in statutory health care, local hospitals, commissioning groups and councils are urged to involve expert charities in the design and delivery of services.
In particular, they are encouraged to develop local partnerships to put an end to an “overly complex” commissioning process, that pushes many smaller charities out of the design and delivery process of health services.
The Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Review report, produced in partnership with voluntary sector representatives, the Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England, highlights the damaging effect of local authority commissioning on smaller charities' involvement with the health sector.
The report found that many social enterprises and charities have experienced barriers to working with the NHS and councils – including limited opportunities for engagement, declining funding for some community groups and a complex contractual arrangements to deliver services.
Alex Fox, chair of the VCSE review and chief executive of Shared Lives Plus, said the report finds a “consensus that we need charities, social enterprises and community groups to be at the centre of local health and care systems if they are to reach excluded people earlier”.
“Effective health and care services will increasingly be those that are designed by the people who use them. Voluntary organisations are essential in ensuring patients' perspectives are heard, particularly if they are from disadvantaged groups,” he said.
“We need a fundamental change in how voluntary organisations are seen. Rather than peripheral players, they are an integral part of the health and care system, and must be treated as equal partners in the strategic planning and delivery of services.”
According to the report, charities have a crucial role to play in the development of community-centrered health care that focuses on wellbeing and enabling people to be looked after at home. But it states that if charities are to pick up the pieces in the wake to austerity cuts, they must also share the benefits of greater involvement.
"It is hard to see a future for many voluntary organisations and statutory services alike, if voluntary organisations remain seen as outsiders in a statutory-based system," said Fox.
"Voluntary organisations can share the risks and responsibilities of local systems but in turn need to be able to share in the resources and rewards."
More than 300 people involved in health and social care in the voluntary and statutory sectors were involved through and online consultation and at events.
Further recommendations include greater transparency of funding for voluntary organisations - with a long-term vision and emphasis on social value. It also calls for local strategic plans to be based on "thorough engagement" with local voluntary organisations, and for NHS transformation programmes to only be approved if they include plans to involve charities and social enterprises in strategic decision making.
NHS England and Public Health England have indicated that they will act on the report's findings.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England said: "Community groups, charities and social enterprises play an important role in tackling health inequalities, often reaching people who don’t access mainstream health and social care services in traditional ways.
"This report sets out a strong vision for health and care systems to work with their local voluntary organisations in designing and delivering services, with practical suggestions on how to form transformational partnerships and invest effectively."
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Public Health England said: "This report hits the button and makes the obvious point that the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector are an inseparable part of the health and care system.
"It is time that we on the statutory side better recognise this and the recommendations set out how we should go about making this a reality."
The minister of state for community and social care, Alistair Burt, said the government would work with the sector to "consider how best to realise the aims of the report".
