Two organisations have joined forces to help health and wellbeing boards understand what the local independent health and care services sector have to offer.
The NHS Partners Network (NHSPN) and the English Community Care Association (ECCA) will also support their members in approaching health and wellbeing boards (HWBs).
A joint survey by the two organisations revealed a lack of engagement between independent providers and HWBs.
The groups are aiming to increase communication between independent providers and HWBs.
Two organisations have joined forces to help health and wellbeing boards understand what the local independent health and care services sector have to offer.
The NHS Partners Network (NHSPN) and the English Community Care Association (ECCA) will also support their members in approaching health and wellbeing boards (HWBs).
A joint survey by the two organisations revealed a lack of engagement between independent providers and HWBs.
The groups are aiming to increase communication between independent providers and HWBs.
A spokesperson from NHSPN explained: "HWBs are going to be central to health and care reform and it is vital to ensure they have strong links with all local providers in their area. Our main aim is to support our members in approaching HWBs but we also hope to see a willingness on the part of HWBs to work closely with independent health and care providers."
Professor Martin Green OBE, chief executive of ECCA, added: "While the results of the survey were very negative and did not show any real engagement between providers and HWBs, we recognise these are still early days for the boards and there have been many demands on them in terms of determining priorities.”
"However, this sector has a lot to offer and can support the local health and social care economies to meet the integration agenda and ensure services are built around individuals in the community and not in hospital. So it will be important for the boards to have a clear understanding of the capability and capacity of local independent health and care services."
And ECCA's director of policy, Ann Mackay told The Commissioning Review that the plan could even involve things as simple as spreading contact details for local HWBs.
She said: “HWBs need to know what our local members can provide and the innovative ideas they might have. We want to be facilitating those discussions. We can’t step in locally providers do need to do it themselves, but we might be able to provide some tools to help them.”
