Social Value - Myth or Economic Reality?

Today I attended a NW NHS conference called Social Value - Myth or Economic Reality, at the impressive Aintree Race Course Liverpool, http://www.aintree.co.uk/ 

Social Value is about how well scarce resources are allocated and used; and how their collective use delivers measurable and improved outcomes. It reflects a balanced approach in assessing outcomes, taking into account the wider benefits to the patient, the wider community and the general public.

It was aimed at:-

Are you a Provider?
• Do you want to show how you can provide added social value when tendering for services?
• Do you want to know how you can support the NHS and Social Care in delivering services differently across local communities?
 
Are you a Commissioner?
• Do you want to know how the NHS and Social Care can gain more from the services they commission?
• Do you want to know how you can provide added social value to your local communities without spending additional resources?

It was well attended and it was good to meet up with Paula and Mark from The Wellbeing Project http://www.wellbeingproject.co.uk/, amongst other familiar and new faces.

Due to a big meeting being called at Whitehall, the 'biggest cheeses' did not attend! Julie Cheetham, Project Director NHS Cross-Regional SHA Social Value Project, NHS North West http://www.northwest.nhs.uk/whatwedo/socialvalueproject/   gave an opening address, followed by a Pan-SHA Social Value Commissioning Project Overview by Brett Nelson, Senior Manager, CPC Ltd.
http://www.cpcltd.com/new/people/consultingteam.asp

Next we heard of case study stories from pilot sites in Blackburn with Darwen and Kensington and Chelsea PCTs.

Unfortunately this overrun and there wasn't time for Mandy Wearne http://www.inspirationnw.co.uk/board.html to speak about the importance of listening to patients! There must be some irony in there as we had to listen to loads of statistics instead!

After a break we all split for workshops. I attended one by Richard Kramer and some of his team from Turning Point. http://www.turning-point.co.uk/Pages/home.aspx 
It was good to hear from a gentleman who has been supported and successful in turning his life around due to Social Value.
Next I listened to Dr. Jessica Allen, Project Director of the Marmot Review. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview
Fair Society, Healthy Lives: A Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England Post-2010 was published on 11 February 2010. During the process of researching, writing and consulting on the report, and following the high profile launch of the Review, widespread interest from all sectors has inspired us to continue to champion a social determinants approach to reducing health inequalities. 

The afternoon began with a stimulating presentation by Craig Dearden-Philips, Chief Executive of Speaking Up and a Social Enterprise Ambassador. http://www.craigdeardenphillips.com/

He then chaired an unusual but interesting Dragon's Question Time where various presenters gave a 5 minute pitch about their role in Social Value and as an audience we used our mobiles to answer questions, which were instantly transferred to the big screen by sponsors Good4Health  http://www.good4business.co.uk/
As the final speaker speculated though, did this give 'permission' for addicted Blackberry users to apparently  use their devices 'innocently' during the session?

The panel were

Peter Holbrook, CE, Social Enterprise Coalition http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/sep/23/peter-holbrook-social-enterprise-coalition
Jenni Inglis, Director, Social Return on Investment http://www.thesroinetwork.org/content/view/47/102/
Richard Kramer (as above)
Dr. Stephen Brookes, Senior Fellow in Public Policy and Management, Manchester Business school
http://www.mbs.ac.uk/research/academicdirectory/Profiles/viewProfile.aspx?sID=7073418
Robert Longley-Cook, Executive Director, Fundraising, Marketing and Communication, WRVS
http://www.wrvs.org.uk/standard.aspx?page_id=132
Nick Brown, Chair, Oldham Local Strategic Partnership http://www.oldhampartnership.org.uk/
Martin Kinsella, CEO P3 http://www.p3charity.com/

I especially enjoyed the closing talk from Mike Pyrah, Chief Executive of Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT who spoke about the next steps for the NW - Social Value Foundation Launch.
http://www.northwest.nhs.uk/whatwedo/socialvalueproject/ 

I do hope the innovation, passion and enthusiasm that has been spoken about and presented today can be used to move forward and improve services. ..... that the myth CAN become reality!

Here is the link to the official resume of the day
http://www.northwest.nhs.uk/whatwedo/socialvalueproject/conference.html

It was great that Paula from The Wellbeing Project won one of the sponsors prizes Good4Health - a luxury weekend away! Well deserved. 

Elaine Hanzak

www.hanzak.com