Covid-19 Response to Support Members
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic our priority has been supporting our members and the health and care third sector by forging partnerships, sharing information and good practice, and maximising opportunities to raise issues and concerns on behalf of members.The Neighbourhood Networks have been instrumental in providing practical help and support throughout the pandemic to reduce isolation for those most at risk from coronavirus. A collaboration with 100% Digital Leeds is ongoing to support digital inclusion for older people, people with learning disabilities, physical and sensory impairments and adults who are not digitally connected or skilled.We continue to represent the health and care third sector on a range of different silver and bronze Covid-19 response meetings and have worked hard at ensuring the parity of the third sector for testing and vaccination. We have, through the Time to Shine programme and Communities of Interest Network, been able to capture learning throughout the Covid-19 response and continue to build on these insights through the development of a coordinated approach to recovery planning with Leeds City Council (LCC) and the voluntary sector. Partnership, Collaboration and Strategy
The partnership of Forum Central is growing ever stronger. Leeds Older People’s Forum and Volition (the Mental Health, Physical and Sensory Impairment and Learning Disabilities Forum) continue to work closely together to shape Forum Central’s strategic direction and work plan for 2021-22; agreeing joint key priorities and opportunities for cross collaborative development work. We are really pleased to be able to work closely with Voluntary Action Leeds, Healthwatch, Leeds Involving People, Leeds Community Foundation and Leeds City Council among others, including Adults and Health and NHS commissioners. At West Yorkshire and Harrogate (WY&H) level, we have ongoing input to a range of boards including now the Shadow Executive Board. We also submitted a response to the NHS England consultation about the future of Integrated Care Partnerships (ICP) on behalf of the sector. A WY&H bid which proposed Leeds as a test and learn site for green social prescribing that we contributed to was not selected but great ideas and connections have come out of it. One example is a connection with the newly formed Walking on Together network which promotes and champions walking in the city. There is a strong appetite to continue to work together to increase social prescribing to green activities and to support organisations working in this area, which we will continue to build on. Shaping Our Future
Over December, the Shaping Our Future report went out to consultation with stakeholders, engaging with people from small, medium, and large VSCE organisations. The briefing has now reached a final version and a proposal has been submitted to Leeds CCG with high level time scales and costings for the delivery of a programme of transition to prepare the health and care third sector to be partners in collaboratively designing integrated contracts. Black Lives Matter
We are linking closely with Voluntary Action Leeds to ensure the Black Lives Matter movement brings about positive changes to our sector and ways of working. We now have a short, medium, and long term action plan, which includes: • Data collection and equality impact assessments • Generous leadership • Training opportunities • Actions linked to the WY&H review into inequalities for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and workforce State of the Sector Report
A report has been produced by Nifty Sustainability CIC and Leeds Beckett as part of Harnessing the Power of Communities work, funded by WY&H and NHS CCG, to make sure the third sector is a sustainable, central part of the health and care system – recognising that the person-centred approach of the third sector is key. We are reviewing findings at the moment and looking at gaps
and where additional research is needed, particularly to ensure underrepresented groups and least heard voices are reflected. Supporting Organisations with Information Governance
There has been a significant amount of work done with our wonderful third sector IT champion Dani Mistry to ensure that we get as many third sector organisations as possible GDPR compliant with NHS Digital. This is to make sure the third sector contribution is visible and in a good position to access opportunities to connect with NHS providers and Leeds Care Record. Several organisations we are working with in Leeds have now received funding for this and contract agreements are in place. Work and evidencing for this is ongoing and will hopefully result in data sharing agreements being in place soon. For more information about our Health and Care work please contact Daisy Morgan, [email protected]uk. | 
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