The challenge
Effective health service delivery is dynamic. Populations grow and change, and as people live longer, so their needs become greater and more complex.
Part of our role is to help clients spot opportunities and identify new ways of delivering services which tackle the most pressing health and social care issues. Based on our understanding of the range of services and skills available in the community and third sector, we funded a pioneering project, delivered in partnership with The Young Foundation. The project was designed to identify, understand and build the capacity of social ventures to engage with, and respond to, health priorities across Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
Our approach
We began by inviting community groups and charities to put forward expressions of interest to address some of the most challenging health concerns across the Arden patch (Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire), including a growing frail and elderly population, smoking, obesity and alcohol consumption.
Over one hundred responses were received which were shortlisted down to fifteen based on the strength of each idea, its relevance to commissioning priorities, likely impact on outcomes and whether it could be replicated elsewhere.
The 15 social ventures focused on three core areas:
- Care for the elderly/hospital entry and exit care
- Long term conditions
- Harder to reach and underserved groups
We invested in a dedicated resource to work directly with the fifteen shortlisted social ventures. A social entrepreneur from The Young Foundation prepared the organisations for a Dragon’s Den-style pitch to the project team, Clinical Commissioning Groups, local authorities and other stakeholders. The organisations were given coaching, support in developing their business plans, pitch preparation and presentation training and the opportunity to discuss their proposals with members of our team.
With the support they received, all shortlisted organisations were able to:
- Understand CCG pressures, priorities and the commissioning cycle
- Develop effective proposals which could lead to improved health outcomes
- Create a credible offer
- Demonstrate added value
- Build their organisational capacity
- Pitch with evidence of impact.