The Health Foundation has launched a new £2.1m programme for partnerships developing collaborative communities where people, families, healthcare professionals and researchers work together to improve health care.
The Common Ambition programme will support up to five ambitious teams across the UK to work towards a shared aim: to build sustainable change across healthcare through collaboration between those who use services and those who deliver them.
The Health Foundation is inviting partnerships between the voluntary and community sector and the NHS to apply for this programme and is offering funding of £300,000 to £500,000 for two to three years. The aim is to support partnerships to make improvements to healthcare services which are driven by members of the public working collaboratively with healthcare professionals.
Partnerships in this programme are expected to be able to capture learning, measure impact and create links with local systems. Working with universities, commissioning organisations and local authorities could strengthen the partnerships, and 10% to 30% of grants must be spent on measurement and evaluation activity.
Additional support available through this programme could include coaching, training, facilitation and learning events – worth between £30,000 and £50,000.
A Webinar is scheduled for March 12, 2020 at which participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about the programme. Expressions of interest are open now and will close on March 20, 2020. Following this, between 10 and 20 teams will be invited to make a full application, to include detailed outlines of their overall aims, partnership models, measurement and evaluation plans and sustainability strategies. Each shortlisted partnership will be invited to attend an assessment day in July and the successful five teams will be selected by the end of July, with partnerships to commence in autumn.
