Voluntary partners are key: Reflections from NHS ConfedExpo 2025

A plan for change?

With the 10 Year Plan set to be published this month, this year’s NHS ConfedExpo presented a vision for a decentralised healthcare system with a reimagined NHS. The keynote speech from Wes Streeting laid out the foundations of a new operating model that heralds the shrinking of the centre, new Neighbourhood Health Services and a reinvigoration of the Foundation Trusts model. His emphasis on “bringing the NHS to the digital age” matched the feeling of some considerable advocacy for AI and connecting data from exhibitors and session panellists during the conference. This aligned with the Spending Review’s announcement of a significant 50% increase in the NHS technology budget and a 2.8% increase in NHS funding which we were broadly glad to see was linked to enabling the 10 Year Plan. 

However, this digital shift without a clear alternative offer raises concern for us at National Voices for those people who face digital exclusion, either through costs, access or language barriers. Without targeted support and a non-digital offer, the shift risks deepening health inequalities rather than closing them. This rings the alarm that, for these changes to truly be transformative of how people experience care, tackling health inequalities must be preserved at the heart of reforms.  

For this, system partners will need to utilise the necessary levers to maintain continued public engagement as change unfolds. Jim Mackey’s keynote speech signalled an urgency to address the poor results from the British Social Attitude survey and the risk of a “disconnect with the population”. The focus on neighbourhood care and slashing over-prescription centrally to empower local leaders sets an ambition, Sir Jim said, to “reset how we work together”. This encourages a focus on the expertise of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector who are well-placed to bridge this gap.  

We were delighted that Jacob Lant, our Chief Executive, Sharon Brennan, Director of Policy and External Affairs, and Robyn Chappell, Lived Experience Manager, were panel speakers across five sessions. Our team helped highlight the importance of VCSE expertise across the health agenda. 

Bridging the gaps

Jacob delivered an insightful session titled ‘How can we build an equitable NHS by 2035?’ with our cross-sector panel of experts, including Joyce Frederick (Director of Policy and Strategy in the Care Quality Commission (CQC)) and Emma Peters (People and Communities Involvement Manager from NHS Black Country ICB). During this session, our panel showcased a framework that enables Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to self-assess and enhance their community engagement practices to meaningfully address health inequalities. This framework, produced in partnership with National Voices, Point of Care Foundation, and CQC, is the outcome of a genuine co-production process that shifted power to people with lived experience and deliver on community needs. 

This is a snapshot of the potential that can be unlocked by genuine partnership between the system, VCSE, communities and people with lived experience. Modelling a reciprocal relationship and empowering diverse communities engages them to produce innovative solutions which will prove vital in the implementation of changes. There have been developments toward this, such as the Model Integrated Care Board (ICB) Blueprint which specifies that every ICB must have a systematic approach to co-production and should work with trusted community partners to achieve this. This momentum must not be lost amidst the seismic changes across the system. Sir Jim’s recognition that “voluntary partners are key partners, they’re material players in every system” is a welcome acknowledgement. It is therefore vital that we see real steps toward enhanced partnership working. 

The system can and does come up with all sorts of well-intentioned interventions designed to address inequalities, but if we’re not working with communities to design and implement them, we’re not empowering communities to stay well sustainably, and to stay well within the context of their whole lives.

Robyn Chappell, Lived Experience Manager of National Voices, speaking at her Confed panel session, “Making healthcare fairer, empowering communities to stay well”