As part of our package of member benefits, VONNE’s Gold and Silver Membership+ supporters have the opportunity to submit a guest post for our website. This blog by Birju Bartoli, Chief Executive of Silver Associate Members Northumbria NHS Healthcare Foundation Trust, celebrates the partnerships between the NHS and voluntary organisations, and showcases the value of the sector to the communities we both serve.
Stronger Together: The value of the voluntary sector to the health and wellbeing of our communities
As Chief Executive of one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country geographically, embedded in diverse rural and urban communities across Northumberland and North Tyneside, I know that the voluntary and community sector plays an extraordinary role in supporting wellbeing, tackling inequalities, and strengthening the resilience of our communities.
Working in the community where I also live gives some important perspective to how the whole system stitches together. People look out for one another, and local organisations often understand community needs long before any formal service does.
For me, the voluntary sector is an essential part of healthy and thriving communities. It brings strengths that are especially crucial in a region like ours reaching people who might not engage with statutory services.
At Northumbria Healthcare, we firmly believe in partnerships. In 2025 we held 8 of our Northumbria Café engagement events, listening to more than 50 organisations. As a direct result, we changed our patient letters to make them clearer, embarked on a deep dive into accessible information, increased our support for SEND apprenticeships and more recently used the voice of young people to help shape our clinical delivery for the future.
Over the past year, I have been proud that we have done more to engage with community organisations whose work is changing lives. Every one of these groups, large or small, brings something invaluable to the health and wellbeing of our region.
Our Community Promise shows we are committed to making a difference beyond healthcare. I am proud to lead the first NHS Trust in the country to make a public commitment to act on education, employment, environmental, economic and inequalities in the communities we serve.
As a direct result, we are working with schools and colleges in our most deprived communities to inspire young people from the age of 7 about the 350 different roles we have in the NHS. Around 66% or our apprentices now come from some of our most deprived areas, and we know 83% of them decide to stay with us as permanent employees after training. We have more than 370 local suppliers and we spend more than £6 million a year just on this local supplier base, keeping local people in local jobs. We will do more.
We have recently awarded a contract to Citizens Advice Northumberland to work with us to support patients and staff to make sure they are claiming all the benefits they are entitled to. More than £500 per eligible person goes unclaimed in our area, 40% higher than the national average.
Based on these examples, I can see that we and the wider system can (and must) do more. I know the NHS can sometimes be a difficult partner to navigate. We want to change that. The 10-year plan, and its 3 aims to move care from hospitals to communities; from analogue to digital; and treatment to prevention, can’t be done by the NHS alone.
We can explore new things such as joint training, access to facilities, shared volunteering programmes or partnership events. We want to invest in relationships, not just contracts.
To every community group, charity, volunteer and social enterprise across our patch: thank you. Your dedication, compassion and local leadership enrich our organisation and transform lives. As we look ahead, I am committed to building deeper, stronger and more meaningful partnerships.
From our coastal communities to our rural uplands and in our growing towns, our area thrives when we work together. The voluntary and community sector is not on the periphery of our work; it is central to achieving our mission - delivering outstanding care and building healthier, more connected communities.
Together, we can shape a future where everyone - no matter where they live - enjoys the support, connection and opportunities they need to live well.
Image Credit: Northumbria NHS Healthcare Foundation Trust