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Community Ambition
In 2020, NHS Charities Together announced a £30 million grants programme across England. The programme recognised that the NHS relies on partnerships in the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sectors and aims to encourage and support these partnerships across geographical areas that help communities affected by COVID-19. The expectation was that the funding should be used for projects that benefit the NHS and VCSE sector across each STP/ICS. The Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals Charity was asked by NHS Charities Together to administer the grant of £445,532 on behalf of the Suffolk and North East Essex ICS.
The Suffolk and North East Essex ICS Partnership Board agreed to use the opportunity to deploy this funding donated by members of the public in Suffolk and North East Essex to NHS Charities Together to make a difference to those communities that we know have been hardest hit by the Covid19 pandemic – those from ethnic minority and deprived communities. The programme reflects the following established system priorities, values and commitments:
- our primary ambition to enable health equality for everyone;
- building sustainable partnerships and collaboration between NHS, local government and VCSE organisation with a focus on our three locality alliances;
- our commitment to co-production with individuals and community groups with lived experience;
- an approach that contributes to building capacity and sustainability in the voluntary and community sector;
delivering measurable impact underpinned by an outcome based approach that enables benefits that should improve outcomes.

