NCF Welcomes The Care Association Alliance

Regional and local care associations throughout England have joined forces to form a new lobbying and representational group. The Care Association Alliance will be co-chaired by Debbie Le Quesne of the West Midlands Care Association and Erica Lockhart of Surrey Care Association.

Des Kelly OBE, Executive Director of the National Care Forum welcomes the new alliance saying:

“The National Care Forum looks forward to working with the Care Association Alliance to improve the quality of care services along with the reputation and standing of care amongst the public. The National Care Forum represents the not-for-profit care providers across the UK and so knows the value of bringing members together to have a stronger voice in the sector!”

NCF is also part of the Care Provider Alliance, which was formed in 2008 with other national provider representative bodies in the care sector to share information and work collaboratively. The 12 national membership bodies in the Care Provider Alliance continue to meet on a bi-monthly basis along with a meeting with CQC and other national bodies.

The Care Provider Alliance plays a key role within the Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) partnership which was established to demonstrate the importance of building more effective relationships between providers, commissioners and people receiving care and support. It has become apparent through TLAP that these relationships need to be further developed at local and regional level and the Care Association Alliance will hopefully add insight into the importance of understanding the local offer.

Des Kelly concluded: “NCF welcomes the Care Association Alliance and looks forward to working together for the benefit of all our members, and ultimately for the people using care services”.