The Health System

Regional Voices has summarised the recent key changes in clinical commissioning, highlighting different ways for the voluntary and community sector to engage with clinical commissioners, and identifying issues and opportunities for voluntary and community organisations in the new landscape.

The Centre for Islam and Medicine is a research institution examining medical ethics from an Islamic perspective, with a range of resources available covering different areas of health as a product of their work.

NHS England regularly publishes statistics and other data regarding a range of health issues under their remit.

Public Health England have made available key data on adult and child physical activity and obesity in the form of slides.

A briefing released by Voluntary Sector North West, which explains what social prescribing is, with examples of how it works.

This report by Sense outlines the personal experiences that people who are deafblind have faced when accessing healthcare; from the positives to the negatives, as well as examples of best practice, hints and tips on accessible healthcare and information on the new Accessible Information Standard.

Director of Public Health for Hertfordshire, and member of FaithAction’s Advisory Board, Jim McManus has published a paper on the issue of religion in the healthcare system, and how the faith of patients and staff can interact in different ways.

Beyond Youth Custody, a national programme which supports best practice in the resettlement of young people, have released a number of guides, for practitioners who work with young people in the criminal justice system, aimed at building a more culturally-responsive resettlement system.

A factsheet aimed at NHS management on how to best engage with faith communities and consider their unique needs.

The NHS Alliance has put together a website full of information about the relation between health and housing and how housing organisations can work to improve the health of local communities.

Public Health England have commission a series of resources regarding health and housing, including case studies and evidence, and guidance and training for housing providers to better deal with health issues.

Director of Public Health for Hertfordshire, and member of FaithAction’s Advisory Board, Jim McManus has compiled a briefing aimed at supporting religious diversity in NHS trusts.

Produced by the National Center of Cultural Competence at Georgetown University in Washington DC, this report looks at the role faith-based organisations play in supporting health care and how they can increase access to care services through partnerships.

As part of the Keogh Urgent Care Review, NHS England have released a series of guides for in and around the health and care sector, such as identifying local care home placements.

Healthwatch have put together this interactive map, showing every Healthwatch group in the country, allowing you to easily find the location and contact details of your local group.

This website serves as a collection of the good practices and resources that were produced by LINks (Local Involvement Networks), which acted as precursors to the Healthwatch scheme, and its partner organisations.

FaithAction and the Race Equality Foundation have produced a report looking at voluntary sector awareness of Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWSs), the importance of these documents in affecting local decision making and to what extent they have been locally embedded.

The Men’s Health Forum has results of research on JSNAs carried out by local authorities across the country, focusing on the recording of gender data and its use in identifying the health inequalities in both men and women in each area.

A document produced by FaithAction, highlighting what Joint Needs Strategic Assessment is and its importance.

Designed by Livability’s Community Mission Team, the Church Healthcheck tool enables churches (and other projects) to assess the way they work, and how well they interact with the community.

A guide to smart and sustainable finances developed by the Every Action Counts programme.

A Vulnerable Adults Policy, which lays out the duty and responsibility of a group to protect vulnerable adults from abuse and the actions to take should an incident occur.

Developed by Resources4Change, this pack contains a range of material for anyone involved in sustainable development.

A great animation produced by the Kings Fund, giving a whistle-stop tour of where the NHS is now – how the new organisations work and fit together.

A glossary of key terms that you will come across when looking at local health structures put together by FaithAction.

Need to know what HealthWatch, Health and Wellbeing Boards and JSNA means? Look at this document that FaithAction has pulled together for you.

A video put together by the King’s Fund, which looks at the various organisations that make up the National Health Service and how they are connected, following the Health and Social Care Act of 2012.

The National Children’s Bureau (NCB) have released a briefing that sets out the latest information on local authorities’ role in public health as introduced by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, focussing on services for children. It highlights opportunities for integration and measuring outcomes as well as funding issues and implications for the children and young people’s voluntary and community sector.

A briefing produced by Regional Voices, summarising the key changes brought about from April 2013 through the Health and Social Care Act 2012. This briefing identifies issues for voluntary and community organisations – pay particular attention to the paragraphs marked ‘key issues for the VCS’

NHS England have published a refresh of their business plan for 2014/15 – 2016/17. The plan covers everything NHS England is involved in, from commissioning of services to service delivery, and set objectives and deliverables for key areas of NHS England’s remit.

A briefing produced for NCF and VODG members in order to increase awareness of the health and social care changes happening right across the NHS and local government. These changes will alter the way all providers, elderly and disabled people and their carers work with and are supported by the health and wellbeing system in the future.

The regional VCS network organisations have each developed a regional “Who’s Who” guide to support voluntary and community sector organisations make contact with people in the new health and care structures in each region, including clinical commissioning groups, health and wellbeing boards, local Healthwatch organisations, commissioning support units, CQC in each local authority.

Guidance produced by FaithAction on the role of faith-based organisations in their communities.

By FaithAction, a report – the first of its kind in the UK – that brings together evidence of the reach of faith-based organisations and their impact on health and well-being.

Resource for hospices in reaching out to work with faith communities – it is a US-based resource so statistics will not apply to the UK, however there is a lot of useful practical guidance which will help your organisation work more effectively with faith groups.

Summaries of FaithAction’s Symposium, which brought together many different health practitioners, faith groups and academics, and featured FaithAction’s report on faith-based organisations and public health and a study of public health activity in Leeds from the University of Leeds.

Produced by EndLink, a collection of resources surrounding end of life care, this guide looks at the role of faith communities in end of life care and provides twelve activities to encourage participation, as well as provides a real life example of how faith can improve and support someone’s end of life care.