Charities secure government contract to improve young people's health
Gabriella Jozwiak
Friday, May 31, 2013
The Department of Health has appointed a consortium of seven youth charities to be its strategic partner in helping to improve health services for young people.
The consortium, called the Young People's Health Partnership, has been awarded £200,000 to carry out work during 2013/14 as part of the DH’s Health and Care Voluntary Sector Strategic Partner Programme.
Led by the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), the group also includes Addaction, the Association for Young People's Health, Brook, CLIC Sargent, Street Games and Youth Access.
They began working together on the programme after DH approved their business plan last week.
The consortium’s projects include investigating how to improve health outcomes for young people as they make the transition from child to adult health services.
They will also consult young people about their experiences of health services and share their opinions with the department, NHS England and Public Health England.
NCVYS deputy chief executive Faiza Khan said it was crucial that young people’s needs were addressed during a period of profound reform to the health system.
“We are keen to help young people become independent and empowered users of healthcare services,” she said.??“There’s an awful lot of information online, which young people might be able to find, but once they access services they sometimes don’t work out for them.
“Our activities will help break down those barriers and share information with government health departments about what works and what doesn’t in engaging young people. We need to get young people enthused to use these services.
The group is among a total of 21 organisations and consortia that were named as DH strategic partners in April.
Olivia Butterworth, head of public voice at NHS England, said the partnerships would help to “unlock the potential contribution of the voluntary and community sectors to contribute fully to improving health and wellbeing outcomes for everyone”.
