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Securing funding for your project

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Thanks to the Movember Foundation and Royal Mail, we established our Health and Social Care Professionals Programme two years ago. Since then we’ve allocated funding to 59 professionals to test new models of care, and collectively they have now supported over 26,000 people across the UK.

Sustainability

Sustainability and the sharing of good practice is key for the success of these projects. We want the models we know work to be sustained and to be adopted by other organisations across the UK.

To help make this happen, last month we brought together London based commissioners and cancer leads to hear from six of our funded professionals. Interest and discussion in the models presented was high and since the conference we’ve already seen people starting to adopt the innovative models and implement them across their own networks.

This was the first of many events where we’ll be engaging and working with decision makers to effect change, and there are many things we learnt from the day, so we’ve compiled our tips for engaging with CCGs.

Our top tips on engaging with CCGs

  • Commissioners plan and decide which health care services they fund will ensure the best outcomes for their local population. This is based on local needs and identified local priorities and strategies. But importantly it’s also an ongoing process that responds and adapts to changing situations, so it’s important to engage with them when creating or adapting services. This will help keep them informed, allow for sharing of learnings and outcomes, ensure activities align to local priorities, and could potentially help with sustainability.
  • It’s a good idea to try and speak to someone who has been involved in this process before for support and tips on how your local CCGs work.
  • Find and connect with your relevant CCG Lead(s). This may be a Cancer Commissioning Lead, GP Lead, or someone with a broader remit such as the service redesign or service improvement manager.
  • Review the CCGs priorities and strategic plans and other key documents such as the cancer plan. Identify how your project or ask aligns with these and will help the CCG achieve aims, objectives and KPIs.
  • Have a clear ask: What do you need from the CCG? For example, is it a straight commissioning request, or do need a change to current tariffs?
  • Show benefits and limitations of proposal. Include patient and service outcomes from evaluations, and any cost analysis or return on investment calculations.
  • Detail the pros and cons of proposal and alternatives, including the current state of play.
  • Identify commissioning cycles and start discussions early.
  • Ensure you have buy-in from other health professionals who will/may be involved.