The Sleeping Giant Exploring the Community and Voluntary Healthcare Sector

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The Sleeping Giant Exploring the Community
and Voluntary Healthcare Sector
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Outline of the Presentation

• Introduction
• Part I Key Findings
• Part II Summary of the Recommendations

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to provide a comprehensive picture of health
focused work within the Community and Voluntary
Sector in Ireland, based on existing literature
and research findings.
The Aim of the Research
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The Objectives

• To Define the Community Voluntary Healthcare
  Sector
• To Map the contribution of Community and
  Voluntary Sector to healthcare in Ireland.
• To Analyse the locations and context in which the
  healthcare needs of communities are promoted by
  the Community and Voluntary Sector.

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Defining the Community and Voluntary Healthcare
Sector

• No one definition of the Community and Voluntary
  Sector.
• The definition used most frequently across the
  literature is the Structural-Operational
  definition
• Two interpretations of health the bio-medical
  model and the more recent social model of health.

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A Definition of the Community and Voluntary
Healthcare Sector

• Consists of organisations who
• are formally organised, privately owned and
  self-governing,
• do not distribute profits
• have some level of voluntary involvement.
• are engaged in a variety of forms of activity
  that have a positive impact upon health
• They may also be
• involved in the creation of social capital and
• promotion of positive change in social,
  economic, cultural, environmental and community
  circumstances
• Section 1.3

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Size and Contribution of Community and Voluntary
Organisations to Healthcare
The Centre for Nonprofit Management estimate
there are 24,000 non-profit organisations
throughout Ireland in Trinity College, There
are lots of Studies eg
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Size and Contribution of Community and Voluntary
Organisations to Healthcare

• Stats on the exact size of the Community and
  Voluntary Healthcare sector are more limited.
• There is a lack of a national comprehensive study
  focused on the healthcare sector.
• There is also a lack of recognition of the social
  model of health in existing research.
• There is a need for a comprehensive study of the
  community and voluntary healthcare sector and its
  work in Ireland.

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Funding

• The Community and Voluntary Health care Sector
  is funded by two main sources 1) Statutory and
  2) Private
• The extent of statutory support varies
  considerably across the sector,
• It is not possible to definitively quantify the
  amount of funding given that there is no one
  comprehensive study that has attempted to do
  this.
• Many of the studies undertaken to date have not
  had a specific health focus and many would appear
  to have adopted a medical definition of health..

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Types of Services Provided

• An array of services across a wide range of
  areas,
• Also involved in promoting a health agenda by
  engaging in community development work that
  empowers communities to identify and address
  their own health needs.
• The lack of a national database of community and
  voluntary healthcare organisations means that the
  information on the types of services and
  activities in which the sector is engaged is
  limited to a number of individual studies.

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Contexts for Healthcare Promotion by the C V
Sector

• There are four main contexts
• Statutory/voluntary sector partnerships
• Implementation of national policies and
  programmes
• Democratic representation
• The media.
• And three different levels
• national,
• regional and
• local level,
• Some Issues that need to be considered in each
  context are
• equality of resources and capacity between the
  Statutory and Community and Voluntary sectors,
• the need for ongoing dialogue and communication
  and
• the avoidance of consultation fatigue.

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Recommendations

• Promote a Greater Understanding of the Role of
  the Community and Voluntary Healthcare Sector
  (6).
• Quantify the Nature and Role of the Community and
  Voluntary Healthcare Sector (2)
• Promote the Development of Enhanced Linkages
  between the Community and Voluntary Sector and
  the Wider Health Sector (7)

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Understanding of the Role of the C V Healthcare
Sector

• Awareness/understanding of the social model of
  health
• Raise awareness of the concepts of
  active-citizenship, social capital and people
  centredness.
• Undertake research to identify examples of good
  practice that profile the value and nature of
  services provided by the Community and Voluntary
  Healthcare Sector.
• Promote greater communication and collaboration
  within the sector to identify common issues.
• Identify and develop capacity-building supports
  for community and voluntary healthcare
  organisations, for example, training.
• Shift the focus of media attention to include a
  focus on community care rather the just hospital
  care.

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Quantify the Nature and Role of the Community and
Voluntary Healthcare Sector

• Undertake research to quantify the size and value
  of the sector nationally using the social
  definition of health. (build on information from
  research currently been undertaken by The Centre
  for Nonprofit Management (TCD)
• Develop a comprehensive categorisation of all
  services and activities in which the Community
  and Voluntary Healthcare Sector is involved under
  a social model of health

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Enhanced Linkages between the CV Health Sector
and the Wider Sector

• Actively identify mechanisms through which the
  Statutory/Voluntary Sector Partnerships can be
  enhanced
• Promote the implementation of good practice as
  identified in the Health Service Executives
  Community Participation Guidelines (2002)
• Identify positive action to be undertaken by
  Statutory agencies to ensure parity of
  representation in partnership structures
• Seek the establishment of multi-annual funding
  programmes thereby increasing both the autonomy
  of the Community and Voluntary Sector and
  improving the parity of the relationships between
  the statutory and Community and Voluntary
  Sectors.

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Enhanced Linkages between the CV Health Sector
and the Wider Sector

• Seek the establishment of a defined route and/or
  structures to feed into the Health Service
  Executive.
• Seek the establishment of a Voluntary Activity
  Unit in the Health Services Executive.
• Enhance the extent and nature of participation in
  the Health Policies/Programmes at national and
  local level.
• The Community and Voluntary Health Care Sector
  should seek to encourage the Health Service
  Executive to implement Section 43 of the recent
  2004 Health Bill

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Enhanced Linkages between the CV Health Sector
and the Wider Sector

• Build structured linkages with political
  representatives at national and local level. For
  example, presentations could be made to various
  Joint and Select Committees of the Oireachtas,
• Seek development of more participatory mechanisms
  for the engagement of the community and voluntary
  health care sector National Health Strategy
  Implementation