Hundreds of representatives from the health, social care, business and voluntary and community sectors gathered for a major conference as part of the NHS’s commitment to improving the lives of residents in Birmingham and Solihull.
The Birmingham & Solihull Social Value Conference: Building a Better Tomorrow Together, took place at Birmingham’s Millennium Point and was focused on ensuring a collective commitment to increasing the value of every pound the NHS spends for the greater good of those living in Birmingham and Solihull.
Delegates and keynote speakers included national and local health and social care leaders, businesses who are procured to deliver goods and services in the NHS, and voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations.
Together, they explored the art of what is possible to achieve tangible change through increasing social value to support environmental sustainability, reduce health inequalities, growing the local economy, and build resilient and thriving communities.
It also saw the launch of the utilisation in the NHS in Birmingham and Solihull of the Match My Project scheme. A digital platform – akin to a dating app – Match My Project enables businesses and the VCFSE sector to come together and improve their local area, matching the resources of business with the local know-how of community organisations.
Simon Clarke, Managing Director of Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System’s Procurement Collaborative, said: “This conference marks the start of an exciting new journey to ensure that we increase the value in every pound the NHS spends for the greater good of our society.
“We have a moral and legal duty to ensure that our suppliers deliver – and that we measure – social value which supports economic, social and environmental prosperity in our communities.
“However, we can’t do that alone. It is vital to bring together our partners across the VCFSE sector and our suppliers to develop a joint and co-produced vision for how we deliver on these duties in Birmingham and Solihull.”
Patrick Vernon, Chair of NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB), said: “Our overriding ambition is to enable our citizens to live longer in better health, eradicating the systematic, unfair and avoidable differences in health that exist between different people in our city and borough.
“Through social value, we can make great strides towards achieving this ambition by ensuring that the procurement decisions we’re making deliver not only economic value and quality health and care services for our citizens, but also better support our communities.”
David Melbourne, Chief Executive of NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB, said: “We worked with both suppliers and the VCFSE Sector to co-produce our Social Value Conference – starting as we mean to go on.
“The conference seizes the opportunity that sits in front of us to build long-lasting legacy for the benefit of our communities – particularly those most underserved and underrepresented.
“We’re looking forward to continue to build on this work and seeing these relationships continue to flourish and the benefits it will bring for our citizens and communities.”
The NHS nationally has adopted five key outcomes to form its own social value goals, which sees NHS England give a 10% minimum weighting to social value in all procurements.. Individual NHS organisations are able to decide whether to ask for the minimum 10% weighting on social value, but in Birmingham and Solihull the weighting has been increased to 20%.
Preeya Bailie, Director of Central Commercial Function at NHS England, said: “It’s fantastic to see local systems like Birmingham and Solihull taking the social value requirement seriously, and what better way to deliver on it than to bring partners together to set the direction together. The conference is a leap forward in achieving the vision in Birmingham and Solihull, and we look forward to seeing how it develops over the coming months.”
The conference itself was an example in ensuring social value, with the NHS having procured the Birmingham Voluntary Service Council to lead its planning and delivery.
Stephen Raybould, Programmes Director at BVSC, said: “Social value is one of the many ways in which the NHS can support community organisations. Partners commissioned by the NHS work well with us to deliver social change. With that support we can help people improve their lives, stay well or settle back into homes after a hospital visit. It works for everyone, and events like this conference are about making that happen.”