CCGs receive funding for public and patient participation

NHS England is in the process of giving an extra £10,000 to each clinical commissioning group (CCG) to help create additional capacity for existing local work on patient and public participation.

The funding is particularly aimed at supporting the development of local five year strategic plans with patients and communities. NHS England hope this funding will support CCGs in assuring that strong community engagement is at the heart of local strategic visions by:

• Enriching patient and participation programmes - developing five year strategic plans with local commissioning partners; and
• Enabling strong community connections, for example, supporting the high quality care for all, now and for future generations engagement and capacity of VCS partners locally to work with CCGs to do this.

This could therefore be a useful time for local VCS organisations to link in with CCGs, to support the development of plans for linking in effectively with the local population, especially for engagement with the more marginalised groups that the VCS tends to support.

Regional Voices encourage CCGs to talk to their local CVS, and other relevant organisations about how best to use this extra £10,000.

CCGs have already changed the way the NHS involves and engages with their local populations, and are building community and patient participation into their work, particularly in their recent engagement programmes to establish effective dialogue in developing their long term vision for health and care services locally, through their strategic planning processes.

Feedback from CCGs has acknowledged that the resource for meaningful participation with patients and the public needs to be at very local level. This is why NHS England is making this small contribution to each CCG, to help create additional capacity for your existing local work across patient and public participation.

There is only a short window of opportunity to really build this into strategic planning discussions with your communities and stakeholders, and the funding comes late in the financial year.

This is in addition to the work NHS England has initiated with Commissioning Support Units (CSUs) to establish a Field Force Programme to support CCGs and Area Teams (ATs) across Patients in Control and Patient and Public Participation programme areas. The aim is to create a source of expertise and innovative approaches within CSUs to support CCGs and ATs in their local participation and engagement work.

NHS England has suggested that CCGs work with the voluntary sector in their strategic plans for engagement and are being signposted to the Regional Voices resource about health commissioners working with the VCS, which can be downloaded at www.regionalvoices.org/sites/default/files/library/Briefing_on_VCS_for_healthwelbeingboards.pdf, and the NHS England guidance Transforming Participation in Health & Care, which can be downloaded at www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/trans-part-hc-guid1.pdf.