Health & Transport Connection

The forward to the Clinical Commissioner’s Guide to the Voluntary Sector says:

With the passing of the Health and Social Care Act in March 2012, the UK’s health and social care landscape entered a period of major transition. From 2013, newly-formed Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) will take over responsibility for commissioning many NHS services, and will face the challenge of securing improvements in health outcomes at a time when demographic shifts and changing lifestyles are putting ever-greater pressure on NHS finances.

In this context, non-traditional health and care service providers, such as voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises and mutuals, will play a key role, both in supporting commissioners to procure services that are responsive to patients’ needs and provide real value for money, and in the delivery of effective and innovative health and social care provision. Many organisations in the not-for-profit sector provide services which extend beyond traditional, clinical health interventions to a broader range of approaches, such as community support, social participation and support for independent living. 

A key attribute of these organisations, whether they operate at the local, regional or national level, is their close links to the beneficiary groups that they serve. Consequently, the voluntary and community sector is well-placed to support the development of tailored services which improve health outcomes and create a wider range of choices for commissioners, as well as service users.

The Suffolk Community Transport Association recently gave a briefing to the clinical commissioning group of the Suffolk Congress of Voluntary and Community Services that outlined the role of Community Transport in delivering health outcomes. The slide above is stating the bleedin' obvious that health access and transport must be factored into health service planning. Community Transport works in the scope of "market failure" where commercial operators won't. It has at least a £3:£1 financial return on investment (usually the public purse). However this message needs to be drummed home constantly and loudly to commissioners. There is simply no point spending millions on health prevention or treatment if the patients can't attend.