Facilitating the codesign of a strategy
Summary
the challenge
The solution
what we did
the impact
Shared Purpose worked with Kensington & Chelsea Social Council and One Westminster to co-design a strategy for the voluntary and community sector’s (VCS) involvement in local health and care. The strategy gives the VCS a clear framework for working collaboratively, provides partners with a practical way to engage, and strengthens the VCS’s role as a strategic partner in improving health and reducing inequalities.
NHS reforms created 42 Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) across England, each requiring stronger collaboration between health, care and the voluntary sector. In Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster, the VCS has a long history of partnership working, but needed to organise itself to play a more formal strategic role in the local place-based partnership alongside NHS and local government agencies. This meant developing new relationships, agreeing priorities, and finding new ways of working collectively.
The aim was to create a strategy that would set out how the VCS would organise itself, engage effectively with statutory partners, and demonstrate its collective value in addressing health inequalities.
Consultants Aimie Cole and Lev Pedro facilitated the entire co-design process:
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working with a leadership group to agree purpose, vision and priorities
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running workshops to engage the wider sector and capture ideas
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gathering and writing up case studies of effective practice
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drafting, refining and finalising the strategy with stakeholders
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collaborating with a designer to produce a professional, accessible publication.
The resulting strategy sets out how the sector will work collaboratively within itself and with statutory partners, includes case studies to illustrate good practice, and provides an action plan with short-, medium- and long-term steps.
The strategy gives the voluntary sector a strong framework for collective action and a clear voice in the local health and care system. It also provides NHS and local government partners with practical mechanisms to engage with the sector. Ultimately, it will support better health and wellbeing for local people and help to reduce inequalities.