NCS is mentoring several charities so they can develop commissioning support – and thus improve health and social care services for the people they represent.
We’ve seen the great benefits that voluntary sector commissioning support can bring to neurology and are keen to pass this knowledge on so it can reap the same rewards for other health conditions.
On 4 March 2013 we announced on our news pages the latest charities NCS will be mentoring as the programme enters its second year.
Year one participants and their plans
- Macmillan Cancer Support aims to set up a commissioning support function similar to NCS.
- Epilepsy Action is designing tools to support their commissioning advocate volunteers.
- The Rheumatology Commissioning Support Alliance plans to develop a ‘Year of care’ budgeting tool to help commissioners understand their population, needs and spend.
- The Spinal Injuries Coalition is mapping need in two areas in order to decide what spinal injury commissioning support should focus on. NCS is also providing training to develop staff understanding of commissioning.
Case studies
Other places we’ve seen the voluntary sector making a real difference to commissioning and services:
Care pathways: navigating the maze
Clear pathways mean people are more likely to know what services are out there, and how to access them.
Keeping people with epilepsy out of hospital
How an intervention from Epilepsy Society has reduced seizure rates.
Enabling easy access to information
Voluntary organisation Gloucestershire Neurological Alliance created a booklet that captures all local neurology service information in one place.
Rehabilitation after acquired brain injury or stroke
Headway Cornwall have set up a rehabilitation programme that early indications show dramatically increases recovery.
iPhone diabetes tracker app
Diabetes UK have produced an simple app to help people log levels of blood glucose, carbohydrates and calories.
Self-care
How the James Parkinson Centre in Cornwall is enabling self care and better access to information for patients.
Find out more
Read presentations on useful topics. These were first used at a training day for the Spinal Injuries Coalition in October 2012.
Baseline data – why it’s important
The policy context
Specialised commissioning
Mapping your population
Localised commissioning
Developing a business case
Download presentations from our project launch event:
Introduction – Charlie Peel, NCS Project and Office Manager
NCS overview – Sue Thomas, NCS Chief Executive
Case studies of NCS’s work – Deborah Matthews, NCS Regional Commissioning Advisor
A service user perspective – Jean Waters, Gloucestershire
NCS: what it has meant for us – Simon Gillespie, MS Society Chief Executive
Email Charlie Peel, Project Manager, for more information or call her on 020 8438 0715.
The programme is funded by the Department of Health’s Innovation, Excellence and Strategic
Development fund.
