Agenda item

Better Care Fund

This report sets out the initial joint plan for the use of the Better Care Fund in accordance with the guidance received to date. The Better Care Fund Plan must be signed off by the Council, Clinical Commissioning Group and the Health and Well Being Board.

Minutes:

The Director of Adult Services, Health and Housing (ASCHH), reported that the report before the Board set out the initial joint plan for the use of the Better Care Fund in accordance with the guidance received to date. The Government had announced £3.8bn of funding to encourage integration amongst healthcare providers. The funding aimed to encourage seven day working and a move away from reliance on A&E services.

 

The Integration Task Force established by the Board had been instrumental in driving progress. There had been some discussion with providers, but a strong recognition that more detailed involvement was needed as well as with other stakeholders in the identified activity areas.

 

The aim of the Better Care Fund programme ultimately would be a population that was happy, healthy and active for longer, through having better information, access to health and care services when required and support to make the right choices. In practical terms this would mean that people:

·         would only have to tell their story once, as there would be integrated, shared records based on the NHS number as the unique identifier.

·         need would be met with the minimum time spent in hospital or travelling to access the services needed

·         care planned with people who work together to understand people and their carers and put the person in control, co-ordinate and deliver services to achieve best outcomes. 

 

There were already strong foundations in place for joint working locally and these would be built upon. Three strategic themes had been identified which would be worked up into work streams:

 

i)                    Prevention and self-care

ii)                   Integrated delivery of care

iii)                 On-going Care and Support

 

The CCG intended to put a sum of £0.302m in addition to the increase in S256 funding for 2014/15. Plans would be developed in order to ensure that both the CCG and Council use the resource to support the transformation required. In addition, it was reported that the CCG had proposed to make an additional contribution equivalent to 1% of total budget during 2014/15. This sum would be used to secure a strong position in preparation for 2015/16. Funding would need to be pump primed in order to see a reduction in hospital admissions.

 

Work would be necessary to ensure ICT systems could work together.

 

In terms of the five national targets that needed to be measured, Bracknell Forest performed well in all of these areas. The whole programme would be overseen by the Board. Whilst the Health & Wellbeing Board would play a fundamental role it was not the right vehicle to manage the detail of the operational changes required. It was therefore proposed to reframe the ITF into the Better Care Programme Board (BCPB). The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Health & Wellbeing Board would be invited to attend the Board.

 

The joint plan had been to the Council’s Executive and the CCG’s Governing Body. Following the Board’s endorsement, the joint plan would be submitted to the Local Area Team the following day.

 

In response to Members’ queries, the following points were made:

 

  • It was reported that in order to ensure that existing service providers were not destabilised in would be critical for there to be strong partnership arrangements in place and people would have to remain at the centre of all decisions with an emphasis on providing care in the best possible settings.
  • Risks would need to be pooled rather than to be pushed on any particular organisation. Expectations would need to be managed as demand rose year on year across the board in terms of acute services and social care services.

 

The Chairman stated that it would be key that partners did not ‘huddle around their own handbags’ and only consider their own services. Conversations around an integrated approach would need to start early. The Director of ASCHH stated that partners would need to start from the premise of a shared vision with the CCG, with people at the centre and how they were to be supported in a safe and sustainable way. 

 

It was RESOLVED that the Health & Wellbeing Board;

 

i)                    approved the submission of the template attached as Annex A of the report,

 

ii)                   approved the establishment of a Better Care Board as set out in 5.3.5 and

 

iii)                 agreed that additional resources for staff to programme manage the approach be delegated to the Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Housing in conjunction with the Executive Member within the funding envelope. 

Supporting documents:

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk