10GM’s Population Health programme works with our Local Infrastructure Organisation partners (LIOs) and the VCFSE Leadership Group to bring together VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) organisations with NHS Greater Manchester, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and others to strengthen the role and influence of the VCSE sector in Greater Manchester’s population health system, with an objective to actively contribute to a measurable improvement in the health of Greater Manchester residents.
We actively contribute to a measurable improvement in the health of Greater Manchester residents by scaling up the role of the VCSE sector as a strategic partner and provider of services. Our work is framed by the shared commitments in the Greater Manchester VCFSE Accord and has four main delivery areas:
Social Prescribing and Person and Community-Centred Approaches
We aim to maximise the role of people and communities in activities like social prescribing, and universal and targeted wellbeing prevention work. We do this by growing preventative activity which addresses the wider social and economic determinants of health, and activities which build strong, resilient communities.
VCSE Data, Intelligence, and Insight
We are working to increase meaningful investment in the VCSE sector at all levels to be able to participate in generating, sharing and using business intelligence, which helps to identify and tackle health inequalities at neighbourhood, locality, and Greater Manchester level.
Developing the Greater Manchester Population Health System
We facilitate VCSE engagement in Population Health policy, systems development and commissioning of prevention programmes and shaping the conditions and characteristics of a population health ‘system’ at different spatial levels. Our work has a particular focus on poverty and cost of living, and protecting investment in VCSE architecture needed to sustain core VCSE delivery of population health priorities.
Tackling Inequalities and Fairer Health For All
Our work focuses on resourcing the VCSE sector to be able to collaboratively shape and implement the Fairer Health For All Framework to address health inequalities at neighbourhood, locality and Greater Manchester levels. This includes developing more effective relationships between VCSE organisations and Primary Care, so that they can offer better advice, support and services to help improve their local community’s health and wellbeing.
Our work in focus
Data and Intelligence
While ‘knowledge is power’ is often seen as a cliché, it is fundamental to our ability to act and have agency. Comprehensive, relevant and accessible data and insight helps us to understand more about the places we live, the challenges we face, and our communities’ strengths and assets. The 17,000 VCSE organisations in Greater Manchester hold a wealth of knowledge and data about our communities. Over the last two years, we have started a rapidly growing programme of work to build capacity and capabilities to collect and use data from the VCFSE sector. Click to find out more.
Delivered a project to understand the data and intelligence maturity of the VCSE sector in Greater Manchester, engaging with over 300 people and conducting a deep dive with 9 organisations working with people experiencing severe and multiple disadvantage.
Identified areas of data innovation in the sector and across Population Health portfolios.
Supported the VCSE Population Health Data and Intelligence Group.
Showcased and pitched the data project recommendations to a range of audiences.
Developed a roadmap to build data capacity, capabilities and maturity across our sector so that valuable insight on community health and wellbeing can be better shared and utilised.
Started a VCSE peer learning network for staff who work with data to build an active, thriving community, reduce professional isolation, and promote collaboration and joint learning across diverse VCSE groups.
Contributed towards the development of a Social Prescribing data framework.
Co-designed eight priorities for the VCSE Data and Intelligence Peer Learning Network.
Co-designed eight priorities for the VCSE Data and Intelligence Peer Learning Network.
Fostered relationships with NHS Business Intelligenceand the strategic intelligence agenda and GMCA Research/Information Strategy.
Influenced future development of key data sources e.g., The CVD Need tool.
Worked with a public health registrar to develop an options appraisal for investment into VCSE data innovation.
Delivered training sessions on using Data to Drive Decision-Making as part of the VCSE workforce programme.
Tackling Health Inequalities
We know that poverty is the biggest driver of ill-health in Greater Manchester. The conditions we are born, grow, live, work and age in — are often entrenched and interacting, affecting our chance of having a long, healthy life. Over the last two years we’ve shown how a thriving VCSE sector enables healthier, more resilient communities where everyone can reach their potential to live a good life. We’ve pulled together some examples of our work that highlight the importance of a symbiotic relationship between the VCSE sector and our system partners and supports our collective ambition to tackle health inequalities in GM for good. Click to find out more.
Fairer Health for All Stories of Change– showcased how local collaboration can tackle health inequalities, including Bolton’s COVID-19 vaccination programme; GM Older People’s Network; addressing complex needs in Wigan; and improving transport for disabled people in Salford.
Fed into the development of the Inclusion Health Toolkit.
Supportedthe VCSE Population Health Group including a refresh of its purpose and membership.
Established Test and Learn Sites to explore how the VCSE sector and GPs can build lasting relationships that help them work together to tackle health inequality.
Influenced the Primary Care Blueprint – specifically the access, health inequalities, and integrated neighbourhood chapters.
Delivered training to Fairer Health for All Fellows on the VCSE Accord and wider sector.
Showcased as part of the NHS GM Primary Care Summit including the development of case studies.
Fed into the development of a community-led prevention model to tackle CVD & Diabetes including co-delivering a workshop for the VCSE sector with the Alternative Provider Collaborative.
Created an animation of upstream models of care for Fairer Health for All.
Supported VCSE leaders engagement with the Fairer Health for All leadership approach.
Developed relationships with CVD Prevention clinical leads and CVD prevention oversight group.
Fed into the development of NHS GM multi-year prevention plan.
Supported the transition of the GM FASD Network into the National FASD Organisation.
Delivered a Home from Hospital Programme which upscaled and enhanced the existing response to discharge pressures, by increasing collaborative working between the VCSE sector and hospital systems.
Secured resource for a VCSE Cancer & Inequalities shared post which has established a VCSE Cancer and Inequalities Network.
GM ICP People and Communities Engagement Strategy– developed a model for strengthening communities by greater participation in decision-making in health and care.
Facilitated grants programmes, such as the GM Walking & Wheeling and Cancer & Inequalities Grants.
Person and Community-Centred Approaches
We know that when we connect people with their local community and focus on what matters to people, we can make a real impact. This includes approaches that are rooted in and that encourage community action, power and wealth to flourish. One of the the strengths of the VCSE sector is our deep and trusted relationships with communities- our staff and volunteers have lived experience, and work in a trauma-informed way, using a strengths-based approach.
So much of the Person and Community-Centred (PCCA) approach echoes these ways of working in the VCSE sector in Greater Manchester, championing a movement for community-led health and wellbeing. Below we’ve detailed some of the work we’ve done to continue to align our ways of working and the opportunities we have identified collaboratively to tackle health inequalities across Greater Manchester in a community-led way. Click to find out more.
Bringing together Local Infrastructure Organisations and VCSE organisations across GM to feed into the co-design of Live Well events.
Contributing to the work of the Social Prescribing Operational Group including engagement to identify contracting risks to VCSE social prescribing providers.
Co-ordinated and managed the Community Marketplace across Live Well events.
Supported the PCCA team with the strategic development of the Live Well Fund, including connecting it to key networks e.g., The LIO Strategic Network, Greater Manchester VCFSE Leadership Group and VCFSE Population Health Sub Group.
Conducted scoping and engagement to understand how the local VCSE sector and commissioners are currently involved in Personalised Care (including social prescribing), the drivers and risks, and plans for long term development.
Supporting communications to promote the launch of and events of Live Well across the VCSE sector.
Bringing VCSE insights and perspective into the Live Well Steering Group.
Contributed to the development of a Greater Manchester Creative Health place partnership.
Helped to shape the Live Well narrative to reflect the priorities of the VCSE sector, including the development of a Live Well Partnership Package.
Designed a Live Well webinar focusing on growing the roots of good health and the role of the VCSE sector in health creation in communities across Greater Manchester.
Strengthened links and aligned 10GM Population Health ways of working across the PCCA team, including attending weekly team meetings and team away days.
Delivered training on working with the VCSE sector as part of a pain management workforce development day and with student health visitors.
Fed into the development of the Movement Matters project.
Influencing Policy and Practice
A central part of our work is about strengthening relationships and collaboration between the NHS, local VCSE infrastructure organisations, grassroots VCSE groups and communities. For communities to flourish we need to shift the way the system works for people and put people at the heart of decision-making. Our work has included integrating VCSE insights into decision-making, promoting accessible, sustainable investment into the VCSE sector through the development of Commissioning and Contracting Principles, and making the case for a shift in resources towards health-creating places which help to prevent ill health. Click to find out more.
Supported the development of VCSE Contracting and Commissioning Principles to be adopted by the ICB in September 2024.
Hosted an exhibition at NHS Confed Expo in partnership with GM Cancer Alliance.
Supported collaboration between VCSE and public sector leaders through the VCSE Population Health and VCSE Data & Intelligence Sub-Groups.
Integrated into the NHS GM Population Health System Development Team.
Completed a review of VCSE participation in NHS GM Population Health functional activity and GM Population Health governance.
Co-delivered a workshop with VCSE and NHS GM Population Health team on strengthening the relationship between the VCSE sector and Population Health.
Recruitment of VCSE representatives to Population Health delivery groups e.g. GM Work Well Partnership, Tackling Poverty Group & Population Health Committee.
Escalation of risks to local prevention activity, impact of insourcing, and vulnerability of ‘squeezed middle’ VCSE organisations.
Supported a review of VCSE contracts, highlighting risks to local provision and the disproportionate impact of cuts to small-medium VCSE organisations.
Conducted a VCSE stocktake exercise across the Population Health system development team.
Published set of key enablers for effective primary care and VCSE collaboration and socialised thesein the Primary Care system (e.g. Primary Care system board).
Fed into joint work with the medical directorate on the CVD & Diabetes prevention approach, including the development of a community-led CVD prevention framework.
Supported VCSE insights into the Making Smoking History refresh and Making Smoking History Alliance.
Established 10GM as a trusted and reliable source of insight using data from the VCSE infrastructure led ‘State of the VCSE Sector’ research.
Ongoing sharing of insight, case studies and evidence which contributes to shifting of resource into prevention and upstream models of care and the delivery of Fairer Health for All.
Blog, case studies and social media campaign for Commissioners and VCSE Sector developed and disseminated, describing the benefits of grants and flexible funding methods.
Delivered an external communications plan to raise profile and visibility of joint work between health system and VCSE sector to improve population health.
Delivered a community insight project in partnership with the Passionate About Sexual Health Partnership inform the next stage of the HIVe (ending HIV in a generation in Greater Manchester) Programme.
What’s next?
Our work to date has brought together the three Accord partners under our mission to actively contribute to a measurable improvement in the health of Greater Manchester residents. Through the Population Health workstream we have deepened relationships between local VCSE infrastructure organisations and the wider VCSE sector, to better embed the sector in the strategic planning and delivery of Population Health priorities.
Over the next six months up to March 2025 we will continue to embed the sector through:
Use the prototype year of the Live Well fund to explore alternative ways of meaningful investment into communities that strengthens their capacity and equips them to be in charge of decision-making, owning the change they want to see.
Mobilise a programme of work to increase the data and intelligence maturity of the VCSE sector, including the co-ordination of a peer learning network, a data skills training and leadership offer for the VCSE workforce, and the delivery of targeted test and learn projects to explore how data generated by VCSE organisations can be used to target resources to improve population health.
Test out the Smoke Free Spaces toolkit with a small number of VCSE organisations, understanding what it takes to build consensus and create smoke free community spaces which support the health and wellbeing of all our communities.
Support the Population Health Advisory Group’s role in overseeing the Primary Prevention approach by gathering and sharing intelligence and insight, and promoting collaboration between VCSE organisations and the primary care system.This includes securing and deploying investment to VCFSE groups to support primary and secondary prevention of Cardiovascular disease.
Support the development of a data framework for social prescribing in Greater Manchester
Develop stories of change which highlight the unique role of the VCSE sector in building strong, resilient communities which in turn supports good health and wellbeing, spreading and sharing insights into ‘what works’ and ‘why’.
In the longer term we want to see a radical approach to population health which shifts power, resources, and decision-making into local communities. Our ambition is to work in partnership with our local and Greater Manchester Population Health colleagues to increase the impact of population health approaches across the Integrated Care System. This ambition is articulated in both 10GM’s own Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the priorities of the VCSE Population Health Group.
We also want to build on the existing assets and strengths of our sector by positioning ourselves to lead on behalf of the system in areas that align with our strengths- such as VCSE organisations being recognised and valued as the natural leaders in facilitating co-production and achieving shared outcomes designed with people. Investment from NHS Greater Manchester into shared roles which help to connect people and organisations and mobilize collaborative work has been essential to the work described above.
Having built a solid foundation, we are now in a position to innovate and create system solutions, that are invested in accordingly. To do this we need to work creatively, utilising our sector workforce’s extensive skills and leadership in community development, coordination, and engagement activity. This experience and leadership is essential to achieving health creating places which allow people to thrive and do not accept inequalities as an inevitability.
The next phase of our work will therefore focus on putting in place the policies, resourcing and enablers needed for VCSE organisations to be seen as full and equal partners in a ‘system’ (not a ‘sector’) that is focused on people and place. We hope the readers of this report have found its contents useful, and we look forward to continuing our work together for the benefit of every person in Greater Manchester.
Testimonials
“The 10GM Population Health team has really helped me to work more effectively with the VCSE sector in GM – through regular contact they have been a sounding board for the work we are doing, and then spent time with me figuring out the right forums and groups to take emerging ideas and plans to for conversations and development with the VCFSE sector. Their advice as to where best to take things and then practical help to get on the agendas has been incredibly helpful and has (hopefully) meant that the work we have been doing over the last year or so has been much better aligned to the Accord and VCSE perspectives and interests. In addition we have been able to fully align and partner on some key pieces of work reducing duplication and pooling effort and resource to have more impact.
I have seen previous similar roles in practice and have been struck by how tricky it is to occupy the connecting and brokering roles between our sectors. With Emma and Sarah these roles are focused, productive and effective, offering challenge whilst also always being constructive and ‘can do’ despite the immense pressures being felt across our system at the moment which make partnership working more challenging.”
Zoe Porter – Associate Director: Person and Community Centred Approaches
“The workstreams around the GM VCFSE Accord Population Health programme have been particularly effective in bringing together an improved approach to data and intelligence in our work. I have been particular impressed by the strategic knowledge and ability of 10GM Population Health colleagues to convene stakeholders, facilitate discussion and drive results.”
Anne Lythgoe – VCFSE Accord Principal: Greater Manchester Combined Authority
“The (VCSE Data and Intelligence Project) provided a great opportunity to reflect on our data journey so far, providing clearly outlined categories for me to think about where our strengths are and where more work needs to be done … having the opportunity to see the challenges other organisations are having in this area, and where there are parallels to our own experiences was invaluable and reassuring. The exercise will help provide a lot of focus for the future work I have with 10GM
The 10GM Population Health team has been very supportive in bringing together VCSE organisations and provided us the opportunity and legitimacy to share our experiences and collaborate on shared challenges. I feel that 10GM is ahead of the curve on bringing VCSE organisations into the fold of local health systems and feel that they value our expertise and experiences supporting our communities.”
Tom Montrose-Moss – Head of Insight & Performance: LGBT Foundation
“The VCSE Population Health Group has been an important space for collaboration with Population Health colleagues, shaping a wide range of programmes and approaches including Fairer Health for All, Live Well, Inclusion Health, Creative Health, CVD and Diabetes Prevention, and partnerships with Primary Care.
Direct investment into programmes such as CORE20PLUS5 Community Connectors has helped us to understand how we can work together towards more equitable health outcomes.
Going forward, we need to focus on the sustainability and leadership of our sector, investing into local, community-led, health creation approaches which means every person in Greater Manchester can live well.“
Charles Kwaku-Odoi – Chief Executive Officer: Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN) & Co-Chair of GM VCFSE Leadership Group Population Health Sub-Group
Get involved
Share our Population Health Report
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Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise and Primary Care Network Partnerships
As part of our Population Health work, 10GM has funded 5 partnerships to become test and learn sites to explore how the VCSE sector and GPs can build lasting relationships that help them work together to tackle health inequality.
We’ve partnered with Data Orchard and want to hear your views on data so we can focus on what’s important to help your organisation and the sector to use data to meet the needs of people in Greater Manchester.
