Dear ,

Welcome to the new Midlands Thriving Communities Newsletter! You’re in the right place!

Thank you for your patience whilst I have navigated some administration changes behind the scenes. I continue to work hard on your behalf, and I’m delighted to continue in the role as your Midlands Regional Lead for Thriving Communities, supporting the Social Prescribing movement across our incredible region.

I’m pleased to say that as of 1st May I’ve joined Communities1st who are now hosting my role. I’ve been really warmly welcome and am settling in nicely with the new team. This move will allow us to pool resources, expertise and support with our fantastic colleagues in the East of England. I’ll still very much be providing the dedicated Midlands support you’ve been used to, but I’ll now be supported by Tom Watkins, my counterpart Regional Lead for East England who has extensive Social Prescribing knowledge. Together we’ll be supporting this vital work of developing Social Prescribing from the ground up.

Thriving Communities Midlands - How is Social Prescribing developing across the Midlands?

This session took place on June 1st.  The aim was to help in the understanding the developments of Social Prescribing. The session made reference to the concept of a whole community approach to Social Prescribing and provided examples from across the Midlands.

Please continue to engage with us around this topic. If you have any further questions, please get in touch

If you are interested in accessing the slides from the webinar please click here

Get it Write Workshop: Writing For Funding Applications & Bids 

The ability to write compelling and successful applications for funding is a vital skill required in any organisation working for the benefit of our communities. Fundraising for our work provides the lifeblood our projects and services need to continue. Thriving Communities in the East of England has partnered with the Royal Literary fund to bring you a two-part workshop to help you elevate the applications and bids you write.

This workshop will be delivered through two linked 2-hour sessions that support you to:

• Understand the key principles of writing applications for funding.
• Explore issues of content, structure and style in writing funding applications.
• Practise skills in marshalling information, formulating ideas and expressing yourself clearly, coherently and concisely.

Event Dates: 

Part 1: Tuesday 13th June, 2pm - 4pm
                                AND
Part 2: Tuesday 20th June 2pm – 4pm
Click here to register for both sessions
                               
                                   OR 
 
Part 1: Wednesday 28th June, 10am - 12pm
                                   AND
Part 2: Wednesday 5th July 10am - 12pm
Click here to register for both sessions

Get It Write Workshop: Report Writing 

Join our workshop leaders, Anna Reynolds and  Shelley Silas, fellows of the Royal Literary Fund for these fun and engaging workshops on report writing.

These workshops will help you to learn how to write clear, concise reports that convey your message effectively and efficiently. You will be supported to:

• Explore the essential elements of writing a report.
• Understand the role of storytelling in reports
• Formulate a structured approach to report writing.
• Build skills in selecting and sequencing relevant information.
• Practise editing and proofreading.

Event Dates: 

Wednesday  14th June, 2pm - 4.30pm (Shelley Silas)
Click here to register 

                             OR

Thursday 15th June, 10am - 12.30pm (Anna Reynolds)
Click here to register 

Get It Write Workshop: Reflective Writing Practice in Social Prescribing

As social prescribing develops there is a constant and necessary requirement to critically reflect on our practise. This is an opportunity we can take to convey to those supervising, commissioning or funding our work; what we do and how and why it makes a difference. Through writing exercises and discussion, you will examine the importance of asking yourself practice-related questions, reflecting on what you think and feel and putting your learning into action as a reflective practitioner.

This 2½ hour online workshop will support you to:

• Develop an understanding of reflective writing and its benefits.
• Explore how reflective writing helps you to learn from your experience and improve your practice.
• Practise different models for approaching reflective writing in your day-to-day work.
This session is primarily aimed at Social Prescribing Link Workers, their supervisors and host organisations, however reflective practice is a critical skill for anyone working for community benefit so all are welcome.

Event Dates:
Thursday 15th June, 2pm - 4.30pm
Click here to register
                                   OR
Wednesday 21st June, 10am - 12.30pm
Click here to register

National Academy of Social Prescribing International Evidence Collaborative

The NASP International Evidence Collaborative is hosting a series of lunchtime seminars online. These seminars aim to share and discuss the findings from recent research on different social prescribing projects and provide time for discussion.

Our June session is 'Examining the evidence and factors affecting implementation of social prescribing for Children and Young People (CYP).'

NHS ConfedExpo 2023

NHS ConfedExpo will be returning on 14 and 15 June 2023 at Manchester Central and registration is now open. The event, which NHSE delivers in partnership with NHS Confederation, will once again bring together health and care leaders and their teams from across the sector and is set to be one of the most significant events in the health and care calendar, with two days of inspiring sessions, over 150 hours of engaging sessions and the opportunity to network with more than 4,000 senior leaders, clinicians, managers and their teams.

The conference programme for NHS ConfedExpo 2023 is now available, with a wide range of sessions to choose from, delivered by inspiring speakers covering some of the most important developments and opportunities across health and care.

NHS, local authority and wider public sector staff will be eligible for a free ticket. Book your pass here

Green social prescribing - is being outside always good?

Insights from critical research into green social prescribing - event for policy makers and practitioners.

These free online presentations will explore some of the challenges associated with the design, delivery, and ultimately, effectiveness, of green social prescribing initiatives, and will consider what steps can be taken to improve services and outcomes.

If you’re involved in the design or delivery of green social prescribing, please come along to this lunchtime session hosted by the Critical Social Prescribing Research Network (based at Lancaster University) to hear insights from innovative research projects. 

For more details about national updates you can sign up to NASP newsletter.

We partner with Black Country Together who are comprised of the leading LIOs in each of the four areas of the Black Country and support the VCFSE alliance: 

• Sandwell – Have been engaged in conversation with SP leads to look at the hub model for each of the six places.
• Wolverhampton – Have an established CYP SP service
• Dudley – Received one of the first Social Prescribing investments (2014) and as a result is delivering a mature SP service.
• Walsall – Predominantly led by PCN hosting link workers.
  

A community research officer is in post as a member of this partnership who will be instrumental in leading evidence-based practice from community groups for our system. One of the areas will be specifically covering SP.

Midlands Thriving Communities (MTC) supported  Birmingham Voluntary Services Council (BVSC) to successfully secure a grant from The Cultural Development Service in Birmingham County Council. The aim to join up the arts practitioners and the link workers.

The first stage is to understand what both the arts practitioners/groups and the link workers along with their hosts understand as the key barriers to working better together. We are getting useful insights which further reinforce the feedback we received from the wider Birmingham collective group. The next stage will be deciding how we can achieve some positive outcomes, most notably a means of paying arts practitioners for their involvement in this project for the year.

We are working with an ICB lead and CAVA who support Warwickshire with Social Prescribing developments. They are looking at what methods are currently used to capture evidence on the impact of SP delivery. Health Exchange is one of the main providers hosting link workers. The ICB lead is looking at whether SP case management software could be implemented as a way to support capturing the necessary data required to give insight into SP efficacy.

Our recent work with the ICB SP lead and Social Prescribing Steering Group (SPAG) has resulted in the SP Maturity Framework being adapted into a digital form to help collate responses and provide relevant insights. 

An interim report has been produced which highlights the benefits of developing a model that includes securing investment for full cost recovery of VCFSE expenditure when referrals are made and funding to support participants unable to afford the full cost of a service they are prescribed. This work resulted from a SPAG meeting and has been developed by VCFSE in collaboration with Personalised Care. Although a designated personalised care lead no longer exists in Derbyshire, going forward there will be two nominated SP Ambassadors and an SP lead employed within NHS. We are working together to support Social Prescribing developments within the fantastic relational model being delivered in two places across Derbyshire.

Worcestershire is home to a superb CYP SP service.

The last in person event ‘Worcestershire Wellbeing Workforce’ was a great success to bring people together. A very informative event reflected in their feedback from 124 attendees. Everyone wanted more of these opportunities to connect across county and district. A great summary has been provided. There was an excellent point raised around understanding who is who in the Social Prescribing workforce, we are hearing this same question asked a lot across the Midlands and are working on ways to address it.

Herefordshire have been busy with HVOSS recently taking up a host role for link workers. Unfortunately, HVOSS and the Herefordshire & Worcestershire CVS were unable to engage in the partnership this past year as a result of capacity issues. It is great to hear about the expansion of their work and we've recently been meeting with many link worker hosts interested in SP case-management software, which still needs to be implemented.

For more information, please visit the BWDG event feedback powerpoint

Midlands Thriving Communities have been working to join up partners across Leicester particularly in the city where there has previously been a noticeable disconnect. Recently Leicester secured a fund to develop the SP pathway for older people. Reaching People are leading this work with project management support from Leicester Tigers representing United Leicester. This project is helping to focus partnerships, support collaborative working practice and use the shared learning to support other strands of SP provision.

Kamla your Midlands Thriving Communities Ambassador for this area has been instrumental in realising this work. You can connect with your ambassadors here.

Lincolnshire provides some great examples of joined up partnerships in action. The Social Prescribing Link Workers are predominantly hosted by LIOs and they have adopted the Social RX case management tool. The approach they took in gaining a mutual agreement on selecting the software was excellent. It made updating the map of SP services easier. The biggest barrier in the area tends to be transport especially to the more rural areas. 

Northamptonshire is an area with two SP services; one delivered by Bridges Outcome Partnership called ‘Spring’ and another direct delivery model where link workers are employed by PCNs through the DES/NHS contract.

Mary from Broadmead Community Church provided the Midlands Faith leads with their first exemplar of how faith led groups can support SP.

Dr David Smart is playing a key role in joining up conversations in the area and is keen to support the development of CYP SP linking to opportunities for working with faith groups through a programme of Healthy Healing Hubs.

There are also noteworthy developments coming out of the Thriving Communities funded programme led by Dalepre Abbey. They have formed a partnership to support mental health interventions as part of long-term condition pathway. More information can be found at Action for Happiness Hub Northants.

Sarah Paine recently got to experience first-hand the ‘Grow, Cook and Eat’ provision at a local in person event. Sarah met with many local stakeholders thanks to Claire from Voluntary action Northampton who is supporting the development of the Northamptonshire VCFSE alliance.

In Nottinghamshire, Social Prescribing Link Workers are predominantly hosted directly within PCN practices. With the exception of some in Bassetlaw CVS most can be found on our regional SP Map.

Nottingham CVS, who ran a Green Space Social Prescribing pilot, continues to deliver and support SP developments despite the national pilot funding coming to an end . You can keep up to date on the work via their newsletter

Summary ICS Report - Presenting complaints in primary care that could be addressed through Personalised Care 

To support a learning health system approach for your ICS, ORCHIRD has prepared a report to provide an overview of individuals presenting to GP practices within your ICS for the last quarter of the 2019-2020 financial year

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent provide great example of how LIO’s can work positively in partnership with the NHS and local authorities. Some local infrastructure partners host link workers themselves and all are working to join up the sectors through ICS opportunities.

A case example will be shared in the next newsletter demonstrating the fantastic SP services in the area. This is another area that was easily able to populate our map of SP services.

Please see a useful presentation from Support Staffordshire on how their work supports Social Prescribing in their local area here. 

Best wishes from

The Midlands & East of England ,

Regional Thriving Communities Team