Health and wellbeing
NAVCA’s member organisations, alongside the wider voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, play a vital role in contributing to improving health, wellbeing and care outcomes across England.
Our members are a leaders in their local health and care systems, where they:
- influence and coordinate local activity
- act as their local sectors’ voice in strategic discussions
- amplify the voice of the local VCSE sector, local organisations and people from across a whole range of communities
- support frontline organisations to deliver effective services and collaborations.
We support our members through contributing to national forums, policy and strategy development.
Scroll down to learn more about some of our current work, and access our reports and briefings on health and wellbeing topics. If you’d like to have a conversation about NAVCA’s health focus, and the role of local infrastructure in health and care, contact Alex Boys.
NAVCA's roles in health and wellbeing
NAVCA is supporting National Voices to deliver the coordinator role for the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Health and Wellbeing Alliance (HW Alliance). The HW Alliance is a partnership between 18 VCSE sector representatives and the public sector element of the health and care system. It is a forum where the VCSE sector is able to share expertise at a national level, to improving services for all communities. The HW Alliance is jointly managed by the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement and Public Health England The VCSE members represent communities who share protected characteristics or are affected by health inequalities.
NAVCA is working with NHS England on the Embedding the VCSE sector in ICS Partnership programme. This programme builds on the work of the ICS VCSE Leadership Programme and offers VCSEs support, as they establish or develop alliances and networks across their health systems and places. NAVCA is providing webinars, support materials and direct consultancy to VCSE sectors in each of the CS areas across England. The programme will support ICSs to meet the requirement to develop a formal agreements for engaging and embedding the VCSE sector in system level governance and decision-making arrangements by April 2022.
You can read an example of how our members are involved and what the programme is achieving by visiting York CVS’s website.
We know our members are the experts on the places where they work, and that expertise and intelligence is immensely valuable. NAVCA participates in several national forums to amplify the voices of our members and to highlight the value of local knowledge when building partnerships and collaborations on health and wellbeing. We work to provide balance between national organisations and the specialist, detailed skills and knowledge of local VCSE and particularly local infrastructure organisations. Our unique perspective enables us to identify potential ways of working well with existing local structures for health and wellbeing development, locally-led volunteering and emergency response.
Forums where NAVCA participates include:
- NHS Volunteer Responders Advisory Board
- Public Health Steering Group
- VCS Emergencies Partnership (which we co-chair, along with the British Red Cross)
The NAVCA Health and Wellbeing Forum meets every 6 weeks. It provides a space for members to:
- discuss strategic issues related to health and wellbeing
- hear from NAVCA and national partners on key topics and developments
- share experiences
- agree a collective focus and action.
The forum is open to anyone working or volunteering on health and wellbeing issues for a NAVCA member organisation. Forum members also receive briefings and reviews as new guidance and materials are published from key health and wellbeing partners, such as the Department for Health and Social Care, NHS England and Public Health England. Please visit our membership page to find out about more NAVCA membership benefits and whether your organisation could qualify for membership.
reports and publications
Social Prescribing: The role and experiences of local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations
Social Prescribing: The role and experiences of local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations
Social Prescribing: The role and experiences of local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations
(September 2021)
This report summarises the findings of research NAVCA conducted with approximately 50 of our member organisations, through workshops and interviews. Most NAVCA members are involved in local social prescribing delivery, either through hosting link workers, or through delivery of their core infrastructure roles of supporting a strong and vibrant VCSE sector, supporting coordination of the sector, and providing intelligence and insight on the needs and opportunities within the sector.
Making better use of voluntary sector data and intelligence in health service planning
Social Prescribing: The role and experiences of local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations
Social Prescribing: The role and experiences of local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations
(September 2021)
Members of the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance (HW Alliance) engaged their networks in a study of how data and intelligence held by the VCSE sector is used currently in service planning and development, along with barriers and enablers to that data and intelligence it being more systematically and widely used. This timely work comes as we enter the next phase of integrated care implementation.
Health inequalities in rural and coastal areas
Social Prescribing: The role and experiences of local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations
Community-centred approaches to health improvement
(June 2021)
NAVCA’s mission is to support local infrastructure organisation (LIOs), the VCSE sector and health and care systems more widely, in addressing health inequalities in rural and coastal areas.
This report draws together insight gathered from NAVCA members and key policymakers in NHS England. It makes recommendations for different stakeholders about ways to address health inequalities.
Community-centred approaches to health improvement
Rapid review of local VCSE infrastructure in integrated care
Community-centred approaches to health improvement
(June 2021)
NAVCA carried out this work to support Public Health England’s (PHE) evaluation of a framework for understanding whole system approaches to community-centred public health. Our report sets out findings from discussions with NAVCA members, on this framework and other PHE resources, and suggests ways that the VCSE sector can use those resources and build stronger working relationships with public health professionals. It also assesses how NAVCA members can support their
network organisations to do so.
Rapid review of local VCSE infrastructure in integrated care
Rapid review of local VCSE infrastructure in integrated care
Rapid review of local VCSE infrastructure in integrated care
(April 2021)
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s (NHSE/I) Voluntary Partnerships Team commissioned NAVCA to deliver a rapid review of the landscape of VCSE infrastructure organisations within the 22 integrated care system (ICS) areas not currently involved in its VCSE Leadership Programme.
Integrated Care – Key Findings and Recommendations
Rapid review of local VCSE infrastructure in integrated care
Rapid review of local VCSE infrastructure in integrated care
(March 2021)
NAVCA was commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Transformation Team to deliver a series of engagement events for local VCSE infrastructure organisations on proposals for the next steps in integrated care. This paper summarises key findings and recommendations.
Commissioner Perspectives on Working with the VCSE Sectors
Commissioner Perspectives on Working with the VCSE Sectors
Commissioner Perspectives on Working with the VCSE Sectors
The King’s Fund was commissioned by the Department of Health to conduct research that would explore how and why clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities chose to engage with the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. This report first sets out the methodology used and then presents findings on the factors that underpin the adoption of different approaches. The report's authors discuss how commissioners’ perceptions of their own strategic role, as well as their views on what role the VCSE sector plays in the local area, appear to exert a strong influence on commissioning decisions.
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