Funding awarded to support Youth Volunteering across Humber and North Yorkshire

Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership has been awarded a grant as part of Volunteering for Health – a £10 million programme being delivered in partnership by NHS England, NHS Charities Together and CW+, the official charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Volunteering for Health aims to maximise the benefits of volunteers as a vital resource in delivering health and social care nationally and locally, whilst strengthening volunteering infrastructure.

The programme is part of NHS England’s response to the NHS Volunteering Taskforce which brought together health charities, volunteers, clinicians, civil servants and policy makers. The Taskforce published its recommendations in June 2023, concluding that more can be done nationally and locally to maximise the benefits of volunteers and volunteering in the NHS.

Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership was one of 15 partnerships across the UK to successfully bid for funding. Partnerships are made up of voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations, NHS Trusts, integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities (LAs) and NHS charities.

Grants were awarded to applicants who were able to demonstrate how they intended to break down barriers, test new models and develop guidance and best practice that can be shared across the NHS and beyond.

Their aim as a partnership is to enable and embed youth volunteering for all volunteer-involving health and care organisations across the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership by scaling-up existing programmes from their system. One of those key existing programmes are the youth volunteering programmes at Hull University Teaching Hospital (HUTH).

A video they produced as part of the application process can be viewed here.

Gary Sainty, Head of VCSE, Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), said:

“Our partnership working as part of the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership’s Workforce Breakthrough Group: ‘Volunteers at the Heart of the System’ was crucial to the success of our bid by demonstrating our approach to bringing together volunteering champions from across the different areas of our system.

As a partnership we have already generated ambitious ideas and with the Volunteering for Health investment we will work together to bring these to reality and test system-wide and cross-sector approaches that everyone can benefit from.”

The grant will be paid in instalments over the next three years, until the end of June 2027. Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership will receive an initial payment for the development phase, with an ambition to begin delivering the programme by March 2025.

The ‘Volunteers at the Heart of the System Group’ will be working with the fund to develop this 3-year long project.

Alison Semmence, CEO of York CVS and lead for the Volunteering at the Heart of the System group commented:

“This is an exciting opportunity for us to increase volunteering across the health and care system and give young people the opportunity to work in these settings.  We know volunteering makes a big difference to volunteers themselves, the people they support and the organisations they volunteer for – everyone wins.”

Rachael Hardcastle-Pearce, Young Health Champions and Voluntary Service Lead for Humber Health Partnership (HUTH), commented:

“We’re delighted that the Volunteers at the Heart of the System bid has been successful and that Humber Health Partnerships (HUTH) youth volunteering programmes were highlighted as an example of good practice to be used as a foundation for this project and to be shared with our wider System and nationally.”

For any questions about this project, please contact the VCSE Team via hnyicb.vcseteam@nhs.net.

Let’s Talk Active

Conversations are part of Let’s Talk North Yorkshire’s continued commitment to listen to people who live and work in North Yorkshire. They want to hear from you! Please fill in the online survey here.

Let’s Talk would like to know if you are physically active, what is important to you about being active, and any barriers you face. This will help them to develop council leisure facilities and community-based sport and leisure services now and in the future.

Watch a short clip about the campaign here.

Their new Active North Yorkshire service will have a stronger focus on health and wellbeing, supporting more people to be active, especially people who may need additional support and who don’t currently use their services.

If you are a leisure centre user, gathering information on how you perceive and experience your local leisure centre will help them to identify strengths as well as areas for improvement. They are also keen to hear from you if you don’t currently use their facilities – understanding why you don’t use them is just as valuable.

Understanding what’s important to you in terms of physical activity helps them to develop their facilities and plan their programmes of activity. It helps them to know what they currently do well, what they could do better and differently and where the gaps are.

As part of a wider approach to improving health and wellbeing, leisure centres could potentially offer a broader range of support, such as health checks, nutritional advice, or mental health services. They are keen to explore your interest in these additional services and the benefits of a wider approach.

There are several ways you can take part in Let’s Talk Active:

You can fill in an online survey here – the survey is on Commonplace, which is a safe and easy-to-use online tool used to engage with communities, by over 250 organisations including neighbouring councils in Leeds and West Yorkshire.

If you would prefer, you can pick up a paper copy from your local library, leisure centre or main local office and return it in the envelope provided.

You can also email letstalk@northyorks.gov.uk or call 0300 131 2 131 (please say ‘Let’s Talk’ when prompted) to request a survey.

You can write to:

Let’s Talk

North Yorkshire Council

County Hall

Northallerton

DL7 8AD

Accessible formats of the survey are available on request. Please share your views and encourage your colleagues, friends and family to do the same. The survey closes on 4 November 2024.

 

World Mental Health Day 2024

Join us as we celebrate World Mental Health Day 2024.

Today we’re supporting the Mental Health Foundation to celebrate World Mental Health Day.

Created by the World Federation for Mental Health, this year’s theme focuses on workplace mental health, emphasising the importance of prioritising mental health and wellbeing at work, benefiting individuals, organisations, and communities alike.

To help mark today’s occasion, we’ve pulled together a variety of information and resources, including:

  • The Mental Health Foundation’s downloadable resources, which features shareable posters and social media graphics.
  • Our VCSE Wellbeing Toolkit, perfect for supporting you at any stage of your wellbeing journey.

Let’s come together to start an important conversation about mental health.

#WMHD24