Mark has been a senior leader in the VCFSE sector in Hertfordshire for over 10 years. He lead a countywide charity supporting over 25,000 older people each year through various types of service delivery from practical support in people’s homes to maintain independence, to dementia support, befriending, advice services, and running day services in the community to increase social connection. The range of these services include working with the acute hospitals (Lister, Watford General, The Princess Alexandra Hospital), community hospitals, Primary Care Networks and community health services.
The role within health services is to support older adults, and to reduce admission and readmission into primary and secondary health services through a range of practical interventions. In order to do this, Mark has had to develop good working relationships with hospital discharge teams as well as commissioners.
During his time in this sector, Mark has been part of many collaborations and formal partnerships with other VCFSE organisations and has gained a valuable insight into how they work across the sector. These include partnership services such as Hertswise, Hospital and Community Navigation Service (HCNS), HertsHelp, Memory Support Herts, Age Friendly Communities, Nutrition and Dietetics, as well as many informal close working relationships.
Mark has been involved with the Alliance since its inception and has supported the work over the last three years by being a representative at key meetings, advocating for the sector and supporting the steering group. Mark wishes to use this experience to help develop a robust channel of communication between the VCFSE sector partners and health services to strengthen the relationship and to maximise the opportunities for true collaboration for the betterment of the residents of Hertfordshire and west Essex.