Improving the lives of local people – why we’re an Anchor Organisation

Did you know that Joined Up Care Derbyshire is making a difference and adding value to the lives of people within our communities, above and beyond what we already do as ‘business as usual’, by being part of a system of ‘Anchor Organisations‘?

Anchor Organisations are a group of organisations or institutions in a geographical area (in our case, Derby and Derbyshire) that come together and commit to long-term collaboration to support shared Community Wealth Building goals to improve collective wellbeing and create a strong, resilient and inclusive Derby/Derbyshire economy. The role of these organisations is not to replicate the significant work that is already happening in these areas, but to add value and level-up.

In Derby and Derbyshire the founding organisations of the Anchor Partnership include NHS Joined Up Care Derbyshire, Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, University of Derby, Rolls Royce, and Derby County Community Trust. Together, we can make a real difference to the lives of local people, beyond anything that might be achieved as stand-alone organisations.

As Anchor Organisations in Derby and Derbyshire, we recognise that we can impact on five key areas:

• Workforce and Access to Work
• Partnering in Place, Neighbourhoods and local communities
• Procurement
• Buildings
• The Environment

Initially, we have agreed that we will focus our combined influence and actions on Workforce and Access to Work and Procurement.

What does this mean and what have we done so far?

As a partnership, we are already focussing on recruitment and wellbeing across the area, and more recently we have decided to focus specifically on identifying entry-level jobs across the partnership and developing recruitment pipelines in order to ensure continuity of care and a workforce that represents the people we care about, by sourcing potential candidates from our communities for these roles. We will also continue to promote health and wellbeing across our anchor organisations and share initiatives with each other.

Anchor Organisations will also ensure that social value in procurement is considered when starting any process, which means that, where possible, procurement will happen locally.

You can find out more about the Derby and Derbyshire Anchor Organisations Partnership, the Charter, and who is involved on the Derby City Council Website (PDF). We’ll be sharing more information as our work progresses.