NHS Arden & GEM Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) and Social Value Quality Mark (SVQM) CIC are announcing a new partnership to nurture and celebrate the highest social value standards in healthcare.
The new partnership will support health and care systems, and their partners, in achieving equality, fairness and sustainability. It will introduce the UK’s first Social Value accreditation, delivered in collaboration exclusively for the health sector, together with access to specialist support, resources and skills.
Social value is the positive impact that an organisation creates for society and covers social, environmental and economic impact. Within the health sector, it has been increasingly in the spotlight with procurement policy requiring evidence of social value as a precondition for winning public sector work. The NHS is also pursuing an ambition to become the world’s first net zero health service. Social value forms the fourth aim of Integrated Care Systems – to support broader social and economic development.
By embedding social value, the health sector can become more resilient, sustainable and integrated with a happier, healthier workforce. The partnership has been created to empower systems to tackle health inequalities, drive fairness and inclusion, and promote a culture of wellbeing and will provide organisations with access to:
- Expert social value support from NHS Arden & GEM CSU, a strategic support and transformation partner to the health sector, in partnership with Social Value Quality Mark CIC, a UK leader in social value standards.
- The Arden & GEM Social Value Network, enabling organisations to share resources, case studies and best practice, and to collaborate on shared challenges.
- The UK’s first social value accreditation bespoke to the health industry. The Social Value Quality Mark ‘Health’ has been designed to reflect national health and care policy and responds to the needs, challenges and opportunities of the industry.
Through accreditation, organisations will distinguish themselves as ethical, sustainable organisations who are driving the future of modern healthcare.
Alison Tonge, Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation at NHS Arden & GEM CSU said:
“We are delighted to be partnering with Social Value Quality Mark CIC, a Community Interest Company committed to creating a fairer society through recognising and cultivating social value standards. We are proud to support the development of a dedicated ‘Health’ Social Value Quality Mark to give recognition to healthcare organisations and their partners for their work on delivering improvements in care and outcomes, while also addressing wider societal equity and value. Prioritising social value aims can play a vital role in delivering long term benefit for our people, our communities and our planet.”
Richard Dickins, Managing Director at Social Value Quality Mark CIC said:
“Through our partnership, healthcare organisations will be able to access the practical support, skills and capacity they need to embed social value at scale. It will enable them to have their value independently verified so they can truly understand and communicate the difference they make. We see opportunity to celebrate high standards and support the ongoing transformation of the sector.”
NHS Arden & GEM and Social Value Quality Mark will be sharing details of the new ‘Health’ accreditation in a dedicated webinar on Thursday 23rd November at 11am. Speakers from the public, private and third sector will be attending to share their social value progress. Anyone interested in attending can register their interest by emailing agem.socialvalue@nhs.net
Find out more about the event here.