In July, a new Government was formed in Westminster, becoming first-time parents (of sorts) to the nation. Becoming a parent for the first time can be joyous and overwhelming. It’s the start of something new, a transition, and at best a time of hope for the future.
At National Childbirth Trust (NCT), we work hard to ensure new parents have the right information, networks, and support so they are confident, connected, safe, and able to create the best conditions for a positive start to life. Our new Government needs the same as it stewards our nation through its next chapter.
I think people are looking for a government with vision. One that leads our response to today’s top societal challenges, but also looks ahead and lays strong foundations for a positive and sustainable future for generations to come.
We need urgent solutions to complex challenges, like climate change, the cost-of-living, a safe way forward for artificial intelligence, and growing social inequality. But first we need open, radical, and respectful debate. We need discussion brimming with empathy and a new tone for public engagement that makes space for big, paradigm-shifting ideas.
The charity sector holds a wealth of knowledge, experience, and expertise. It is teeming with motivated, innovative people ready to get stuck in and start building a new future. Often on the front line of social issues and with an unrivalled ability to listen and understand people’s lived experiences, charities are uniquely placed to help create change.
The sector has a proud history of delivering well-researched, well-costed solutions that have been co-produced and often campaigned for, by the people and communities they benefit. Charities can build powerful movements for change. They can connect to vibrant and diverse communities, and make sure the voices of underserved and underrepresented people are heard. Surely, this makes our sector an ideal critical friend to government.
We’ve seen this work before. In 2017, NCT’s research revealed that half of women who had recently had a baby had experienced mental health challenges (1). We launched The Hidden Half campaign, demanding more funding for dedicated six-week postnatal check-ups with a GP. Thousands of supporters, 80 MPs, and three Health Ministers came on board. Following a debate in Parliament, in 2020, the Government announced it would fund dedicated GP postnatal checks, putting in place some early protection during this vulnerable time of life.
What would it look like for the new Government to convene a space to get this kind of regular and respectful discourse started, and allow a radical vision to emerge? Could government and civil society work together to co-design a bold and inclusive future and develop high impact policies that make a real difference in people’s lives?
Fostering an environment where we can achieve social change is an important first step but talk to anyone today and they’ll tell you it’s time to put an end to the rhetoric and turn words into action.
This means the new Government also needs to find new mechanisms that help scale innovative social solutions. This Government and its Ministers must start their tenure as enablers and make an ongoing commitment to creating the conditions and connections that allow charities and public services to innovate and drive progress together. Change like this requires long-term thinking, new funding models, watertight infrastructure and fresh, open processes, as well as a good dose of trust and willingness to collaborate.
Let’s take the NHS as an example. Many charitable and community organisations deliver frontline services that can offer immense value to the NHS, taking the pressure off clinicians and rediverting resource to where it matters most. But, today, many charities are not technically enabled to make that happen quickly and at scale.
For instance, National Childbirth Trust (NCT) provides free, antenatal education, infant feeding support, and maternal mental health services for parents on behalf of a range of NHS Hospital Trusts and Health and Social Care Trusts. Last year, we supported over 4,300 parents through these programmes, many of whom do not speak English as their first language, or are experiencing challenges with their mental health, social isolation, or other unmet needs. Dedicated teams of peer support trainers and volunteer peer supporters deliver these services, bringing parents together to share experiences of pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood, and ultimately freeing up NHS practitioners to focus on areas of more critical clinical need.
The reach and success of these programmes, the clear, long-term benefit to parents, and the pressure it takes off NHS services makes a strong case for this model to be rolled out nationwide. But the devolution of healthcare means that, to make this happen, we would need to individually approach the 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) in England and more than 200 NHS Trusts. The unfortunate truth is that developing the infrastructure needed for outreach at this scale would take away from vital staff resources that should be deployed helping people.
More effective collaboration and co-design can take many forms. One could be to reimagine what the NHS might look like if local health services were more sensitively integrated with social and community support. Here’s how it could work.
The NHS Spine is part of the digital infrastructure for health and social care in England, supporting NHS online services and connecting local and national NHS systems. Over the next three years, a new IT platform will replace the current system, marking a significant digital transformation within the NHS. One of the objectives of this project is to foster an ecosystem of innovation (2) – what a fantastic opportunity this presents to connect the NHS with the best cross-sector solutions!
The new NHS Spine could introduce and standardise IT systems that automatically trigger clinicians to refer patients to high quality, personalised, and local services provided by the charity sector and other social enterprises. This would create formal links to social support that could be fairly and equitably accessed by more people. So, when a parent visits their GP to register their pregnancy, for example, the doctor could automatically be prompted to ask if they wanted to be signed up to a local antenatal group or education course, building connection and community for new parents right from the get-go.
Consistent, long-term partnerships between the NHS and health/social service providers would also eliminate the challenges posed by the volatile, 12-month funding cycles often seen in the current system. Instead, charities and service providers could build relationships of trust with clinicians and streamline referral processes.
Imagine the impact this could have for every person with a disability, or living with a long-term health condition, or for those with mental health challenges – for the whole spectrum of people accessing NHS services for support beyond their regular health checks.
Imagine the more consistent, joined-up, and personalised care people could get by being automatically linked to services they need in their community, endorsed by a medical professional who they trust, and with the full picture of their health and wellbeing easily to hand.
Then imagine how this collaboration could enable the NHS to engage patients not just in their treatment, but as active participants in their own recovery and wellbeing, by deploying the best-in-class health and social care services available. It could truly transform the way we deliver information, support, and access to services in this country. Not to mention the substantial value it could inject to the British economy, building on the £16.8 billion worth of public services already delivered by charities each year. (3)
The RNIB has done important work in this area. Their recent Eye Care Support Pathway report (4) set out a practical way forward for the NHS, social care organisations, and the third sector to better support people living with sight loss by integrating non-clinical support into existing eye care pathways.
This kind of reimagined collaboration could be rolled out at scale across the NHS and could also have a transformative impact in other government bodies, like the Department for Work and Pensions or Housing and Communities, especially when many of the challenges faced by those who are under-served by our society are intersectional and need a holistic and integrated response.
If our new Government chooses to convene our sector and others, encourage open, fearless dialogue, learn, share best practice, and get great solutions out into the world so they can start delivering the change we so dearly need, then this truly will be a positive and hopeful start, just as becoming a parent for the first time should be.
Parenting the nation is an immense privilege and a huge responsibility. Please don’t go it alone. We’re here to help and to challenge – let’s get started!
Written by Angela McConville, Chief Executive, NCT
July 2024
References:
- The Hidden Half, NCT, 2017 https://www.nct.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-04/NCT%20The%20Hidden%20Half_0.pdf
- Spine Futures: vision and objectives, NHS Digital https://digital.nhs.uk/services/spine/spine-futures
- 2020/21 figures, Civil Society Almanac, NCVO, 2023 https://www.ncvo.org.uk/news-and-insights/news-index/uk-civil-society-almanac-2023/financials/what-are-the-trends-in-income-from-government/#overview
- The Eye Care Support Pathway, RNIB, 2023 https://www.rnib.org.uk/your-eyes/the-eye-care-support-pathway/