In Better Health - ACEVO/DH Programme

In Better Health - the ACEVO/Department of Health Third Sector Health and Social Care Support Programme is a three year collaborative project to support the third sector. ACEVO and the Department of Health (DH) will be providing resources to third sector organisations working in the fields of health and social care.

The Need for In Better Health

A large number of third sector leaders work in health and/or social care. The Government’s reforms in these areas present significant opportunities for them and their organisation’s beneficiaries. But there are obstacles to those opportunities being realised, both in terms of the state’s ability to commission effectively and in terms of third sector capacity. The ACEVO/DH programme of support is aimed at tackling these barriers.

ACEVO will be working closely with the Department of Health, the NHS and local authorities on policy development in health and social care, with a particular emphasis on reforming commissioning and on developing policy around personalisation. Our Commission on Personalisation, reporting to ministers in autumn 2010, and whose membership includes senior government officials from DH and Cabinet Office, will play an important role here.

The In Better Health Programme

ACEVO and the Department of Health will also be rolling out a wide ranging programme of support for third sector leaders to better understand the health and social care commissioning environment, and to be in a better position to engage with commissioners, bid for, win and deliver health and social care-related contracts. That support will come in the form of guides, workshops, conferences, online support and opportunities for third sector leaders to network with colleagues in the public sector.

To kick the programme off:

We will be holding a conference on the future of health and social care in Manchester on 27 November 2009, with speakers including Hugh Taylor, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health. You can find out more about the conference here.
A new four-part course of ACEVO/DH workshops will be starting in autumn 2009. The course of workshops will support chief executives to understand the changing landscape in health and social care, and help them to provide the strategic and operational leadership their organisations need to win business in these fields. The workshops will cover a wide range of topics, from DH policy on transforming community services to getting involved in joint strategic needs assessments, from the changing shape of the health and social care market over the next few years to the new rules of competition and co-operation, from securing and maintaining registration with the new Care Quality Commission to personalisation. You can find out more about the course of workshops here.
In Better Health has produced guides for third sector CEOs on the new standard contracts for community services, mental health and learning disability services and on the Care Quality Commission. You can access the guides here. To find out more about these guides, please email nick.carey@acevo.org.uk

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