Sarah Tanner

East Midlands Regional Change Agent

Physical Disability and Sensory Impairment

07825450994

Health and Social Care – what about Social Enterprise?

Recent evidence indicates thatadvisers believe it essential totake time to build a picture of the individual’s skills and interests, past experience, aspirations, likes and dislikes, and preferred areas and hours of work (vocational profiling) so that people could make

informed choices.

Partnerships:• support development of responsive provider models, e.g. social enterprise;• explore current and potential community resources, including workforce, community hospitals, third sector, independent and social enterprise provision; and• create End of Life networks

The so-called ‘third sector’ frequently has aparticular track record of innovation, often makes a pivotal contribution to localservices, and is a sector whose role government is looking to expand. Also relevant are social enterprise services – organisations run by, and for, peoplewho use services

Work with social enterprise support organisations in your area to see how you can promote the growth of the sector in your area. There may be simple ways in which you can help, for example making available business space. Socialenterprises are well placed to be able to deliver local solutions and good quality, innovative and VFM public services.

Leverage current government initiatives• Joint health/social care commissioning• Social Enterprise (equipment needs assessment/demonstrator sites)• Direct payments/individual budgets• Expert Patient Programme• Expert Carer Programme• Prevention• Managing long term conditions• Practice based commissioning

We are designing a flexiblesystem, which will take account of the diversity of provision we want inthe future, and which needs to work for small, new social enterprises and third sector organisations as well as larger, more established,organisations.

There are indications of limited interest in the concept of formalised not-for-profit, a CIC (community interest company)or social enterprise as a preferred alternative to a charity based constitution.

actively encourage a strong provider market, based on a diverse supply community from all sectors. Encourage entry by new participants and growth from under-developed sources of supply,including social enterprises and the third sector.

The Commissioning framework lists steps to offer additional incentives to make the provision of new services more attractive to existing providers or new entrants by:

- paying a supplement to the tariff, only where this is necessary to secure new provision and meets the criteria set out in Health reform in England: update and commissioning framework– providing guarantees within the contract– reducing the capital investment required from the provider– for suitable primary care providers, considering providing pump priming loans to start up a service (subject to affordability).