As part of NCVO’s membership of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, we’re starting a new series of occasional round-up blogs covering what’s new in the world of health and care. If you work in these areas, or your beneficiaries are affected by health policy then this is the blog for you!
NHS70
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with an array of partners to celebrate the NHS’s 70th birthday on 5 July 2018, including charities. You can find out more about the celebrations over the coming months and how your organisation can join in on the NHS70 website.
Understanding people’s experience of personal health budgets
NHS England has commissioned Quality Health to run an online survey to gather feedback about people’s experiences of personal health budgets in England. Opening on Thursday 1 March 2018 and running until Monday 30 April 2018, the survey is open to all current or previous personal health budget and integrated personal budget holders. The survey is open until Monday 30 April, and you can complete it online. All survey responses will be anonymised and used to help improve how personal health budgets are offered in England.
New social value tool for health in development
The Sustainable Development Unit at NHS England is working with the Social Value Portal (SVP) to develop a tool that will allow organisations to measure the value they are creating across the social, economic and environmental spectrum. The social value measurement tool will be made up of a set of Themes, Outcomes and Measures (TOMs) that reflect the needs of patients, communities and suppliers. If you’re interested in feeding into the development of the tool, drop me an email.
Over the counter medicines
NHS has just published its response to a consultation on reducing prescribing of over-the-counter medicines for minor, short-term health concerns, with accompanying guidance to CCGs. In part due to feedback received through Health and Wellbeing Alliance members, people in financially vulnerable situations have been excluded from the new rules, meaning they will continue to be able to get prescriptions for the relevant medicines as normal – you can read more on the National Voices press release.
Michael was our senior policy officer until January 2019, covering issues around charity tax and finance (including social investment) and the impact of the economy on the sector. 
