Health and Care

£20 million. Yes, £20 million – that’s what the government announced last June to help fund charities and community groups to help isolated people and those experiencing loneliness. The winners of the funding have just been announced and it’s great to see a significant amount going to […]

You might have noticed that yesterday the NHS released its Long Term Plan, which sets out its ambitions for the next 10 years. It has been put together with the help of contributions from many organisations, including FaithAction and our members. And it’s not all […]

You’ve probably heard the statistic. Social isolation is as bad for us as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It has more of an impact on life expectancy than obesity. And many of us can probably identify with the complaint that we spend too much time […]

The Chancellor Philip Hammond had to somehow make good this week on Theresa May’s announcement at the Conservative Party conference that austerity is coming to an end. The budget he has come up with – called ‘populist’ by some – is characterised by tax cuts […]

One of the reasons that FaithAction often gets invited to take part in health projects is that ‘faith and belief’ is a ‘protected characteristic’ under equalities legislation. That means that it’s illegal to discriminate against someone because of their faith or beliefs – just as it’s illegal to discriminate against them because of their age, race, gender or other characteristics. When policy makers are developing new initiatives, they want to make sure that they are bearing in mind these protected characteristics, and that their plans won’t unfairly disadvantage any of these groups of people.

Quietly, beyond the reach of scurrilous headlines, a review of the way forward for the NHS is underway. Quietly – maybe too quietly – this goes on, away from the partisan shouting around Brexit and the various fights going on within the Labour and Conservative parties. Maybe there is a political consensus – a place of sensible consideration: that we have an important asset in our health service, but it cannot continue into the next 70 years as it has done with its first 70 years.

As long-term partner of the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, we had the opportunity to attend the NHS Health and Care Innovation Expo on the 5th and 6th of September in Manchester. It was a unique celebration of innovation, enterprise and collaboration, uniting NHS and […]

After an unforgettable year with FaithAction, I have decided to move on to other ventures. Who would have thought my five-day temporary job would turn into a permanent one in such a short space of time? My favourite part of this role was definitely managing […]

If I didn’t start by saying it’s a time of change in the health and care landscape, you would probably wonder what on earth was wrong. So I won’t disappoint you – although it’s fair to say that there has been more upheaval recently than usual, with the recent departure of Jeremy Hunt as Health Secretary.

Who would have thought that, at its birth 70 years ago, the NHS would still be standing today? That’s quite some achievement – and back in 1948, life expectancy was only 66 for men and 71 for women; 70 years later, it’s 77 for men […]