VS Health and Social Care Forum

The Voluntary Sector Health and Social Care Forum has been established since 1993. Since that time the remit and focus of the Forum has adapted and changed to reflect the changes in structure in the health Services and the Local Authorities Social Services and the Forum currently aims to:

• Offer voluntary sector groups whose work involves health and social care the opportunity to come together to discuss the planning, provision and management of health and social care services in Shropshire.
• Develop close links between the voluntary sector and statutory partners involved in Health and Social Care to ensure that the voluntary sector groups are well informed about local, regional and national policy and how these will affect people in Shropshire.
• Support and develop mechanisms to ensure information exchange between the voluntary and statutory sectors and to enable voluntary sector groups to have an effective voice at appropriate decision-making opportunities.

Membership of the Forum is open to representatives from voluntary sector organisations, whose work involves health and social care and there is no formal membership procedure or subscription. Relevant organisations may send a representative to meetings but if organisations are not able to attend they may also ask to be put on the mailing list to receive information about meetings, agendas and minutes, as well as information about consultations and other initiatives underway in the health or social care sector.

The Forum meets at least six times a year for two hour meetings and networking. There is a standing invitation for the Director of Joint Commissioning to attend and other guest speakers are invited. Recent speakers have included the Chair of the new Link (CInCH), the End of Life Co-ordination Team, and the Associate Director of purchasing at the NHS Healthcare Purchasing Consortium.

Members of the Forum are invited to represent the sector and the forum on outside bodies, each request being considered on its own merit. Representation includes attending Forum meetings on a regular basis to report back to the Forum, to raise issues and to seek the views of Forum members. Other work undertaken by the Forum has been a long-standing interest in the development of a Compact for Shropshire (the Forum developed the original Compact some 8 years ago).

Secretariat is provided by the Community Council of Shropshire. Anyone interested in finding out more, or joining the Forum should contact the Community Council on 01743 360641 or email: enquiries@shropshire-rcc.org.uk.

Forthcoming meeting dates for the VS Health & Social Care Forum:
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Tuesday 16 March 2010
(all meetings will start a 2pm and last for approx 2 hours, venue Community Council of Shropshire)

Attached are the minutes from the last meeting held on 22 September 2009.

health and social care FOI - 22.09.09 (18.83KB)