WAVOCC News Summer 2010 - Chairs report
Please see below for the Chairs report in full, from the latest edition of the WAVOCC news.
CHAIRS REPORT – WAVOCC NEWS – SUMMER 2010.
Dear Member
By the time you read this, I hope you are enjoying a wonderful, warm summer with lots of blue skies and sunny days!! Well we can all hope can’t we?
This edition of the WAVOCC News is a Representatives Special and I hope it is both useful and informative. There’s no doubting that being a representative (or Voice as some prefer to be titled) is very special and we should always be grateful to those individuals who are prepared to take on this role on behalf of the sector. However, there is also a very real responsibility to being a representative and we are keen to ensure that everyone thinking of taking on the role is aware of that responsibility element as well. That’s one of the reasons we suggest that anyone interested in taking on a representative role, may like to start by joining the ‘Short Term Representative Bank’ as this gives one the opportunity to try the role but in a very ‘one-off’ situation but still with all the training and support required to undertake the role with confidence. So, if after reading this newsletter, you think you’d like to join the growing band of VCS representatives, do get in touch with Jim J Smith and he’d be more than happy to help you ‘along the path’!!
As usual, Executive committee members and WAVOCC staff have continued to work hard in a variety of different situations and circumstances to improve and develop the work and role of WAVOCC. As our AGM approaches (date for your diary - Friday 9th July), can I again ask that members consider joining the Executive committee so that we can ensure that we have the support and involvement of our members and are able to evidence the diverse membership that is necessary if WAVOCC is to continue to be seen as having influence within the Health and Social Care agenda? As I’ve said before, the role isn’t onerous, can be quite informative and we even manage to have a bit of fun!! We also need to continue to increase our membership (my thanks here to Kate and Jim who have been working very hard to achieve a significant increase lately in membership) but this is an on-going area of activity and one that each and every member can be involved with – if you know any organisation which works in Health & Social Care and isn’t a member, then please take the opportunity to tell them about WAVOCC and encourage them to join.
Over the past few months, representatives have attended the usual range of meetings including: the Health & Social Care Partnership Board, the Health & Well Being Theme Group, the Children’s Trust, the PPI Forums, the Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership Forum, the VCS Forum, the Consultative groups for Older People & Learning Disability as well as attending meetings such as OPVSSN and Older People’s Forums. Sometimes it can seem a bit like ‘meeting overload’ but it’s amazing what can be learnt at these meetings and how sometimes, looking at the ‘bigger picture,’ can actually help in understanding the environment in which we work. We continue to try to ensure that as much information as possible is uploaded onto the WAVOCC website (www.wavocc.org.uk) so that members can keep up to date, so, if you haven’t checked out the site recently, do have a look as there is an increasing amount of information available there and it is regularly updated with new information as it becomes available. There are also feedback forms from meetings attended by VCS representatives which are useful in finding out who to contact and what is being, or has been, discussed.
Members may have seen that the ‘Carewise’ website was launched recently and the aim is that this database will give details of the range of support services and activities which are available throughout the county, aimed at helping people make choices about their care through the ‘Choice and Control’ initiative. VCS organisations can upload details about their services onto the site, so that they are known to both individuals who are making choices but also to the staff of the Brokerage team, as they will use the site as a way of identifying service availability. For more information, contact Andrew Morley on 01905 822066 or at; AMorley@worcestershire.gov.uk
With the ever changing economic situation, many areas of the sector are bracing themselves for a reduction in funding allied to an increase in activity. Certainly the new Government has made no secret of its desire for the voluntary sector to play a larger part in service delivery so that we have to ensure that we are providing both a quality service but also best value. The County Councils BOLD (Better Outcomes Lean Delivery) initiative is already looking at reconfiguring aspects of Adult and Social Care whilst the NHS is being instructed to become purely a Commissioner, with services provided by external agencies including the independent and the voluntary sector. It’s at times like these that WAVOCC, and other infrastructure organisations, are so important as they work to ensure that the sector is involved, consulted, represented and included at all stages of service planning and delivery. As a member of Worcestershire Infrastructure Consortium (WIC), WAVOCC is committed to doing its best for the organisations in the VCS who operate in Health & Social Care and we will continue to try to keep members up to date as much as possible.
I’ll close by wishing everyone a warm and wonderful summer (I won’t say anything about a Bar-b-que summer as that may not apply!!) and I look forward to seeing many members at our AGM on July 9th. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions or queries about any aspect of WAVOCC’s work, please don’t hesitate to contact me – my email is: sally@wvc.org.uk and my telephone number is 01905 24741.
Sally Ellison
Chair