Health Inequalities and the Role of the Third Sector in Greater Manchester

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Health Inequalitiesand the Role of the Third
Sector in Greater Manchester

• 7th December 2006
• Alex Whinnom
• Director, GMCVO

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Some facts and figures

• Largest sector outside London (6 of national
  sector) 10,177 organisations
• Between 1.5 and 5.5 organisations per 1,000
  residents (depending on area)
• Employs around 36,000 paid staff (3 of GM
  workforce) and 60,000 formal volunteers
• Owns assets worth 4 billion and has an annual
  income of 1.6 billion
• Extremely diverse
• Large, strategically focused and well
  co-ordinated infrastructure consortium
• NCVO Voluntary Sector Almanac 2006 / VSS
  Spinning the Spiders Web 2005

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What is the role of the third sector?
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• This government is passionately committed to the
  work of the voluntary sector. We believe that
  voluntary organisations have a crucial role to
  play in the reform of public services and
  reinvigoration of civic life
• The Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector
  in Service Delivery (Treasury Cross Cutting
  Review 2002)

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• The Government regards the voluntary and
  community sector as a key partner in the search
  for excellence in the delivery of public
  services.
• Think smart, think voluntary sector (Home
  Office 2004)

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• The Governments goal is to deliver world class
  public services. Over recent years the role of
  the third sector in helping to deliver these
  services has increased substantially But I
  believe it has the potential to contribute still
  more
• Improving financial relationships with the third
  sector Guidance to funders and purchasers (HM
  Treasury et al 2006)

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The unique value of the third sector in
addressing health inequalities
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• Third sector organisations have relationships
  with the very people who have the worst health
  and who are contributing disproportionately to
  the life expectancy gap
• GMCVO position paper in collaboration with
  Turning Point, George House Trust
  and Black Health Agency 2004

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Our offer -

• Third sector organisations can offer a safe space
  in which the statutory sector can deliver
  services
• They can provide a gateway for referral to a
  range of statutory services, and may be able to
  take on the key worker role
• They can assist with dissemination of information
  about services or health promotion, actively
  ensuring it reaches target groups
• They can also assist with raising the awareness
  of health professionals about the needs of
  particular groups, by providing training and
  information
• They can advise on policy and strategy and are
  increasingly interested in doing this
• They can advise on service and contract design
• Because third sector organisations are relatively
  small and flexible, they can trial or
  pilot innovative ideas quickly.

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What is special about the local third sector?
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Local third sector

• Very specialist target client groups
• Innovative and flexible to local need
• Accountable to local people and clients
• Trusted
• Understanding of local context
• Well-connected locally
• Employs local people (sometimes client group) and
  drives up their skills
• Puts investment back into local economy

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Can we work in partnership?
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Barriers to partnership work

• Public sector
• Who are they?
• Lack of capacity to engage
• Has its own agendas
• Cant handle (big) contracts

• Third sector
• How does it work?
• Lack of capacity to engage
• Has its own agendas
• Inflexible systems

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Overcoming the barriers

• Third sector infrastructure
• GMCVO
• Voluntary Sector Support consortium
• Communications and mutual understanding
• Greater Manchester Health Leadership
• Partnership building
• New models for contract delivery
• Developed within the third sector
• Supported through public sector investment
• Exploration of alternative service delivery
  options

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Conclusion
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Contacts

• Alex Whinnom, Director GMCVO
• 0161 277 1004
• alex.whinnom_at_gmcvo.org.uk
• Greg Crouch, Access Resource Unit Project Officer
• 0161 1036
• greg.crouch_at_gmcvo.org.uk
• www.gmcvo.org.uk
• www.gmvss.net

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