In July 2021 the Nottingham City Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) was notified that it had been successful in its bid to join the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and The National Lottery Community Fund’s Changing Futures programme. Over the course of the programme, which runs until April 2024, the ICP will receive just under £3.9 million to meet the needs of people facing Severe Multiple Disadvantage[1] (SMD).
The ambition of the Changing Futures Programme in Nottingham, is to build upon the work of Opportunity Nottingham, accelerating system change in Nottingham City, evidencing how resources held across partners can be maximised to achieve better outcomes for people experiencing SMD, as well as reducing pressures on frontline staff and services.
Since the award of initial funding, working alongside the ICP SMD partnership, a mobilisation team has been meeting regularly to progress the initial stages of the Changing Futures programme.
The information below provides an overview of activity across the programme since August 2021 and details next steps.
[1] People experiencing SMD are categorised as experiencing three of five sources of disadvantage, according to experience of homelessness, mental ill-health, substance misuse, offending or domestic abuse.
The Nottingham City Changing Futures delivery plan is rooted in the outcomes that people who experience SMD have told us they want to see achieved from the programme. Crucially, the programme model sets out not just to meet the needs of people who experience SMD through the operational delivery service, but also to influence the way in which services are commissioned and provided, creating the conditions for collective ownership of people’s needs in place of restrictive outcomes defined by individual services.
Programme Leadership
We are pleased to announce that Bobby Lowen has been appointed as the Nottingham City Changing Futures Programme Director and will take up his post at the beginning of March. Bobby joins the Changing Futures programme from Nottingham City Council where he has led commissioning review programmes for over 10 years. Bobby has a passion for working with people who experience SMD and believes that creating the conditions for strong partnerships has the potential to improve lives.
As part of his role to oversee the delivery of the Changing Futures programme in Nottingham City, Bobby will be working with system leaders to ensure that the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) response to SMD is set within secure structures that sustain joint planning, coordination and use of resources for the benefit of all people who experience SMD (as well as at a system level) beyond the end of the Changing Futures programme.
As part of the programme leadership team, Bobby will work alongside a Senior System Change Commissioning Manager, a post that will be jointly hosted by Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System and Nottingham City Council – recruitment for this role is currently underway.
SMD Insight and Development Hub (IDH)
The Senior System Change Commissioning Manager will oversee the running of the SMD Insight and Development Hub (see figure 1 & 2) which will coordinate learning across the partnership. They will have responsibility for improving capture and use of data across services, in order to understand the outcomes achieved for individuals and measure the impact on services. The Insight and Development Hub (IDH) will collect data from operational delivery, informing commissioning and system change. The IDH will be responsible for improving practices (e.g. facilitating training and development) within core Changing Futures services, as well as across services that work with people who experience SMD (including non-specialist services).
Involvement of people with lived experience
Co-production is at the centre of the Changing Futures programme, and from the very start of the bid writing process in Nottingham City, we have worked in partnership with people with lived experience of SMD to ensure the programme aims and objectives are built upon their knowledge and expertise.
Operational delivery progress
From the design of the delivery model to recruitment and procurement processes; and writing value statements in job descriptions to providing input for service specifications, our experts by experience have been fully involved in decision-making throughout.
The Changing Futures Expert by Experience Board (see figure 2) has met monthly since it was established in September 2021 and will form part of the Nottingham City Changing Futures governance, aligning with the Changing Futures Development Board once established in the coming months.
Governance and oversight of delivery
In the mobilisation stage of the programme, progress is being reported to the Opportunity Nottingham Oversight Board as an interim measure to provide updates to wider partners on a monthly basis. Progress is also being reported to the Nottingham City ICP Executive Team and ICP SMD partnership meetings.
While the Changing Futures programme forms an integral part of the ICP’s programme to support people who experience SMD to live longer and healthier lives, it is important that the programme has its own established governance to ensure clear lines of accountability for delivery in its own right. The Changing Futures Delivery Board (CFDB) will be responsible for operational management, performance and service development, as well as oversight of strategic objectives to influence local commissioning and service provision. Plans are in place to establish the Changing Futures Delivery Board in the coming months.
It is anticipated that Nottingham City Changing Futures will commence full delivery in the summer of 2022. If you have any enquiries, please contact nnccg.nottmcityicp@nhs.net
