The Commissioning Support Community

CYPP 2011: sharing the learning...

Michael Watts — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:23:00 GMT

Hi all

As we are all currently working to publish the 'new-style' CYPP for 2011, I wondered whether it would be useful to share the learning with colleagues in similar positions.

Within Bromley we have page on our Trust website where we are producing updates on the project to develop the CYPP 2011. We have also developed a specific Twitter site for the project to keep people up to date.

Is anybody else in a position to share their learning?

Lesson one that we have learnt are trying to manage is that the CYPP cannot cover every element of the business. Therefore, we are currently working with the Trust Board members to agree five cross-cutting priorities for the key areas for the Trust Board to focus on in improving outcomes for children and young people over the lifetime of the CYPP. We are also being clear that the proposed priorities do not, and are not intended to, reflect all of the ongoing areas of core business of the Trust Board members, whether collectively or individually.

Lesson two is that it is very difficult to produce the CYPP in light of the daily policy announcements by the government. A question that is being asked, rightly I would say, is "how can we sign up to the CYPP when we don't know a) what resources we will have and b) what the government is expecting us to do post Summer 2010?". This creates a challenging environment, especially when the Minister in charge of children's social care and young people's services says that they are looking at the obligation on local authorities to have children's trusts in place. I would argue that we should use the current legislation in place to offer opportunities for better joint working and to develop joint local solutions to deliver better outcomes for children and young people, and their families. However, the easy option is to withdraw from the joint working and protect your own budget. What is the future on this, and what impact will this have on Trust Boards and the 'new-style' CYPP - who knows!

But in the meantime, can we help each other by sharing the learning, the common concerns and issues, and any solutions to tackling these issues?

Many thanks

Michael Watts
Senior Partnerships and Planning Officer
London Borough of Bromley
michael.watts@bromley.gov.uk

BHFCommission: Third-sector organisations as co‑investors in the health of local communities http://www.commissioningsupport.org.uk/cs/media/p/1849.aspx

Twitter / BHFCommission — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:17:30 GMT

BHFCommission: Third-sector organisations as co‑investors in the health of local communities http://www.commissioningsupport.org.uk/cs/media/p/1849.aspx...(read more)

The case for prevention and using evidence to drive commissioning

Judith Smyth — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:01:00 GMT

C4EO are currently running a series of regional conferences to showcase evidence of what works to improve children’s lives. The conferences focus on prevention and early years work. At the one I attended in Bath the keynote speaker was Olivia Mcleod from the Department for Education who was quite clear about there being substantial evidence for preventative work being very good value for money. It saves costs from use of the criminal justice system and other expensive services if early difficulties are not nipped in the bud. She said that where there was evidence that preventative work was effective and reasonably priced so it should be protected from budget cuts. I have a sense that people in some local authorities are giving up the fight to preserve preventative work and you may find the C4EO work and other evidence very useful at this time.

This all pushes the case for evidence based commissioning of services for populations (e.g a locality, CWD and SEN together, the 5% families with multiple disadvantage) as the way to make efficiency savings. By using evidence, commissioners can and should commission for populations to meet their needs. This will often lead to radical change in service configuration. In contrast, commissioning services can perpetrate long standing inefficiencies and may lead to decisions being made on the basis of a lack of evidence on what works. This approach is also at the heart of the Radical Efficiency paper (launched by Nesta yesterday) and of Total Place. In this respect, you may find the Total Place Croydon report on Early years very useful.

If you need further evidence of what works and what does not work for children then do use the C4EO website because it now contains many more reports bringing together evidence in an easy to read format which deserve widespread use.

New information sheets for teens available

Valerie Billingham — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:54:00 GMT

The BHF has produced a series of fact sheets to enable teenage heart patients to understand more about their condition as they start to take more responsibility for their own health. Available to be distributed by health care professionals or for the young people themselves, the information sheets aim to educate teenagers on their condition and problems they are likely to encounter in their teenage years. The first six titles in the series are available to order now:

C1T - Aortic stenosis

C2T - Coarctation of the aorta

C3T - Large ventricular septal defect

C4T - Pulmonary stenosis

C5T - Tetralogy of Fallot

C6T - Transposition of the great arteries

Order at http://www.bhf.org.uk/publications.aspx You can also order them by calling our orderline on 0870 600 6566, or by emailing orderline@bhf.org.uk.

Changes in Central Government

Michael Watts — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:50:00 GMT

As many of us exepected we did have a change in central government following the election; however, how many of us predicted a Tory/Lib Dem coalition?

And as many of us expected this has lead to a significant shift in central government policy, direction and forthcoming legislation.

I thought that it might be useful to circulate a couple of summaries that I have produced for the London Borough of Bromley which summarise the implications on children's services of the Coalition Agreement, Spending Cuts, and the Queen's Speech. The documents can be found here:

The Queen's Speech: www.commissioningsupport.org.uk/cs/media/p/1798.aspx
Spending Cuts: www.commissioningsupport.org.uk/cs/media/p/1796.aspx
Coalition Agreement: www.commissioningsupport.org.uk/cs/media/p/1797.aspx

I'd be interested in your comments about what these changes actually mean and what plans you have locally (or nationally) to implement them.

Let the debate begin...

Michael

Help parents understand the harm of passive smoking

Valerie Billingham — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:53:00 GMT

In response to the report 'Passive smoking and children' by the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians, which looks at the effects of passive smoking upon children, Betty McBride, Director of Policy and Communications at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said:

“All parents want the best for their children, yet many are making their kids breathe a toxic fog of tobacco fumes which only damages their health.

“The UK Government should now look at all options available to best protect children including awareness campaigns, supporting parents to quit smoking and possible legislation. When the current smoke free legislation in England is reviewed later this year it should find the best way to achieve a smoke free environment.

“The tragedy of passive smoking is the lives cut short or ruined through ill-health as a result of someone else’s deadly habit.”

BHF Speak Up Workshops 2010

Valerie Billingham — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:05:00 GMT

Speak Up is a free 1 day workshop for young people aged between 13 and 19 who are living with heart conditions. It forms part of the BHF's Young Hearty Voices project to develop the capacity of young people growing up with heart conditions to engage with commissioning and service planning and development.

As well as learning all about how to feel more confident and communicate with others, ona Speak Up workshop young people will

learn how to talk to others about their condition in a supportive and creative way.

Dates of Speak Up workshops in 2010:
Time: 10am – 3pm (includes lunch)

17 April - Leeds
22 May - London
19 June - Bristol
11 September - Newcastle
23 October - Birmingham
20 November - Manchester

Further information is available at: http://www.yheart.net/default.aspx?page=340

BHF Kids' and Schools' Catalogue

Valerie Billingham — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:34:00 GMT

The new 2010 Kids’ and schools' catalogue is now available to order at http://www.bhf.org.uk/publications.aspx. The catalogue features all the resources we have available for 3 - 18 year olds, covering topics such as English, physical activity, science and congenital heart disease.

All our teachers’ packs, CD ROMs, books and activity sheets are all curriculum-based and can be used in all 4 UK nations. Our fun, interactive and easy to use resources can be ordered by anyone working with young people.

New to the catalogue this year is our bereavement resource for 7 – 11 year olds, The small creature, cbhf monster sticker sheet, Healthy Living kit for secondary schools, a new anti smoking resource and much more.

The order code is G66.

Please recycle any copies of the 2009 version that you have and order the new up-to-date version.

Questions about Needs analysis for the CSP action learning sets.

Judith Smyth — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:33:00 GMT

Needs analysis is one of the essential steps in the commissioning cycle. If you do not know what children need then you cannot plan services to meet those needs. Sounds obvious but it is more difficult when you try to do it well.

The Commissioning Support Programme are doing some more work in response to demand from Children’s Trusts to help to spread good practice in needs analysis. This work will include some action learning groups for commissioners in the North West and in Yorkshire and Humberside in which we will share experiences, develop a better understanding of good practice and contribute to the development of a Commissioning Support Programme Learning Together report which will be made widely available.

We expect the following questions to be the focus of some our discussions in these action learning groups. Please let us know by a response to this posting whether you think there are things we should add to this list or take away. We would also be keen to hear from you if you have a story to tell about your approach to needs analysis which you think is better than most.

1 – Have you properly considered how you will use information about needs? If your needs analysis shows that there are greater needs in one area or one group of children will you act on this knowledge by decommissioning and commissioning services? What do you need to know from your analysis of information about the needs of your children and young people?

2- Strategic needs analysis relies on understanding demography including the numbers of children and young people with particular difficulties in each year group. Good data analysts can then use this information to forecast the changing pattern of needs into the future. They may be able to tell commissioners ‘if you do not meet this need then when this year group goes to secondary school you will have these problems to solve…. ‘.

3 – Is it better for people who collect and analyse information about needs to be in a single team or can they work effectively if they are working in different parts of the children’s trust? What information about needs is best collected and analysed by strategic commissioning teams and what might be collected and analysed elsewhere in the system? The existence of a needs and performance and analysis team can, when it is working well, immensely improve the use of data and evidence of performance and avoids the problems of data sets not being compatible as was common before Children’s Trusts were established. There were also problems of duplicating effort (same or similar figures being collected in education and social care teams) and people spending time collecting data without necessarily knowing how it would be used.

4 - Is there a good understanding at your authority that needs is a strategic activity? Sometimes this is not well done by service provider teams – even though service providers understand the needs of their clients they are also inclined to look at demand rather than need and to use needs analysis to justify the existence of particular services. Asking service providers to report on needs can also result in double counting of children and families who use a multiplicity of services.

5 - Gathering data is easier than analysing it. There are people with good analytical skills who can interpret the data in public health teams and in local authorities but overall there is probably a scarcity of such people in many systems. Are you sure that you have one or two people who are really good at analysing data and making sense of it for commissioners?

6 - Have you considered how best to bring together evidence of what works to improve outcomes and the needs of particular groups of children?

7 – Are you now using what is learned about children’s needs through CAF to contribute to what you know about the needs of children, young people and families? Do you capture information from social workers about what looked after children and children with disabilities need?

8 – How do you balance out the needs you discover through analysis of data and the needs you discover by talking to parents, children and young people and those you discover through talking to providers of service including schools?

New £100,000 Hearty Lives Bristol programme to get young families active and tackle childhood obesity

Valerie Billingham — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:01:00 GMT

Diverse interests are preventing families from being active together and breeding couch potato family lives instead, according to new research carried out by the University of Bristol and funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) (1).

While parents in the study rated physical activity as a family as very important to family life, most did little or none during the week because of differing interests, bad weather and busy lives. Instead, Professor Janice Thompson and her team in the Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences found that family time was usually spent eating together, watching TV, or playing video and board games.

To help young families in Bristol to be more active together, the BHF has launched its new £100,000 Hearty Lives Bristol programme as part of a major UK-wide initiative.

Working in partnership with NHS Bristol and Bristol Council, the Hearty Lives team will work with children’s centres in deprived areas of the city to help families eat more healthily and play together.

Hearty Lives Bristol will be the BHF’s first Hearty Lives programme in the South West of England, and is part of a nationwide programme to reduce inequalities in heart disease.

At present, a quarter of children in Bristol are overweight or obese by the time they reach the first year of primary school (2), putting them at future risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

Working with 10 Chidren’s Centres throughout Bristol, Hearty Lives Bristol will train staff to provide free family activity classes, and will help to develop active travel options to encourage families to walk and cycle to the centres.

The programme is also providing healthy cooking classes including a number of themed classes, such as one for Christmas and one on South Asian food.

BHF Community Development Coordinator Sue Pritchard said: “Our research shows that parents really want to be active as a family, but busy family lives can make it tough for them. We hope that Hearty Lives Bristol will help to give young families a head start by enhancing family bonds and keeping them happy and healthy.”

The research also found that lack of access to facilities and transportation was a barrier to family activity, particularly for those in low-income households.

Dr Hugh Annett, Bristol Director of Public Health said: “We hope that good intentions can be changed into action by basing this programme in the community. We hope to make it easier for parents to have a better but realistic chance of being active as a family which is a great benefit for health and family life.”

Councillor Bev Knott, Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for care and neighbourhoods added: “We are pleased to support this initiative, which promotes a healthy lifestyle, with a balanced diet and regular exercise for those families in our communities who are most at risk.”

In the study, Professor Thompson also found that parents perceived a range of benefits of regular physical activity on top of physical fitness. These included increased parent-child communication, spending time together, enjoyment, enhanced mental health and weight control.

Professor Thompson said: “Being physically active as a family can help you to enjoy life together, as well as improve your health and wellbeing. We look forward to more programmes such as Hearty Lives Bristol being made available to give busy families a helping hand.”

Hearty Lives Bristol will run for three years, and is one of 14 Hearty Lives programmes based throughout the UK. The programmes will tackle a range of diverse issues related to heart disease according to local needs.

The BHF will also look to fund a further Hearty Lives programme in the South West of England in 2010.

Notes

(1) Physically active families – de-bunking the myth? A qualitative study of family participation in physical activity, J L Thompson et al, Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol

(2) National Child Measurement Programme 2008/09

BHF resources bulletin

Valerie Billingham — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:00:00 GMT

To order any publications please visit our website bhf.org.uk/publications or call the

BHF orderline on 0870 600 6566 or email orderline@bhf.org.

Inherited Heart Conditions

Produced in partnership with the Cardiomyopathy Association, this is the fifth booklet in the Inherited Heart Conditions series. This booklet is one of three dealing with cardiomyopathies. It explains the condition Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, the possible causes and treatment of the condition and how it might be passed on through families. Stock code: M111E

BHF Card!

The BHF card is for young people between 13 and 19 who have an ongoing heart condition. Filled out by a healthcare professional, it can be stored in a wallet or purse and used at times when the cardholders’ heart condition is questioned or forgotten. The BHF card proves, with the authority of a cardiac specialist and the BHF that the cardholder has an ongoing heart condition and may require special consideration. The BHF card is part of the BHF's meet@teenheart programme for teenagers with heart conditions. NB: The BHF card is only available to order by healthcare professionals. Stock code: G486

BHF Card Poster

A promotional poster for the BHF card. The poster can be displayed where young people with heart conditions will see them i.e. waiting areas, ECHO rooms, consultation rooms. Stock code: G488

Getting in the swim for National Heart Month

Valerie Billingham — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:46:00 GMT

Ponds Forge gave bathers the chance to swim in red water as part of the BHF’s National Heart Month. The event was just one of the activities planned by Sheffield International Venues, which manages Ponds Forge, to raise awareness of heart disease and other conditions during the month of February.

Lucy Annandale, a lifestyle consultant at Ponds Forge’s Fitness Unlimited gym, who is coordinating the events, said: “We are looking forward to being involved in all the activities. It’s not every day you get to swim in a red swimming pool.

“Because the stunt is happening on the first day of the school holidays, we wanted to encourage kids to come down as well to experience something unique. The dye is completely safe and won’t stain skin or swimwear.”

Other events during the month will include turning Ponds Forge red by putting red films on the lights, displaying donation boxes and selling heart-shaped cookies. All proceeds will go the BHF.

Lauren Mallinson, Fundraising Volunteer Manager for the BHF in Sheffield said: “I am delighted that Ponds Forge is supporting our Red for Heart campaign to raise awareness about heart disease and funds for the British Heart Foundation during National Heart Month.

“I hope other local businesses and organisations will join in the fun, especially on National Wear Red Day on February 26.”

On National Red Wear Day, staff at Ponds Forge will pay a donation to wear red and a guess the name of the super hero competition will run in the office.