Agenda item

A presentation is attached for background and an update will be given at the meeting.

Members of the Committee considered a verbal presentation from the Deputy Chief Officer, Sharon Martin in relation to the Better Care Fund.

The Better Care fund is a joint pooled budget for health & social care implemented from April 2015 which will have to be agreed between Local Authorities and CCG’s and then signed off by Health & Wellbeing Boards.

The Better Care Fund will develop a sustainable health and social care system

The CCG Deputy Chief Officer reported that it will be necessary to organise services around people to enable them to receive care & support in their own homes.

The total Better Care Fund resource is £12.97 million and will be categorized as follows; Social care spend, £5.8 million; Performance care element £3.43million, new investment £2.5 million; Local Authority capital allocations 1.24 million.

The CCG Deputy Chief Officer reported that there are national supporting metrics underpinning delivery these are not linked to payment & performance but still need to set ambition & measure:

—    Permanent admissions of older people to care homes

—    Proportion of older people- still at home 91 days after discharge to reablement & rehabilitation services

—    Delayed transfers of care

—    Local metric – emergency hospital admissions for injuries due to falls

—    Patient /service user experience – local or national metric

The CCG Deputy Chief Officer reported that the Fund was signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board on Thursday 18^th September, some initial feedback has been received.

Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:-

Members discussed the financial risks associated with the Better Care Fund.  The Deputy Chief Officer reported that the performance element of the Fund which equates to 3.4 million pounds in monetary terms, is a financial risk for the Local Authority and the CCG.  To secure this money the CCG will need to ensure that there is a 5% reduction in activity within the acute sector.  The Pennine Acute Trust will need to be assured that if they take capacity out of the acute system as a result of a predicated drop in the level of funding, that there is an increased capacity within primary care..

In response to a Member’s question, the Deputy Chief Officer reported that in order for the integration of services to be successful, all partners need to develop effective data sharing.   The Healthier Radcliffe pilot has developed a system for data sharing across the six GP practices and representatives from the CCG within the north east sector have compiled a bid to develop a system to integrate patients health and social care data.

The Deputy Chief Officer reported that the Better Care Fund is money that is being top sliced from the CCG budgets and equates to 4.8% of the CCGs total budget. 

In response to a members’ question, the Deputy Chief Officer reported that it will be necessary for Pennine Acute NHS Trust to reconfigure services as a result of changes within the health service.  Accident and Emergency departments are costly, a number of elderly patients end up there because there is nowhere else safe within the community.  The Better Care Fund will ensure money is directed in to community services to prevent unwanted and un-necessary hospital admissions.

Linda Jackson, Assistant Director; Operations, reported that the Better Care Fund will result in partners within the acute sector, primary care and the local authority having to work differently and this will result in the reconfiguration and re-modelling of some services.

In response to a member’s question, the Assistant Director reported that the reablement monies identified within the fund is a funded by the Local Authority.

The Assistant Director reported in the recently published quality and efficient scorecard for frail and elderly locality benchmarking standards, Bury were the highest performing CCG/Local Authority. This is an excellent achievement, despite the CCGs underfunding and funding constraints place on the Local Authority.

It was agreed:

The Deputy Chief Officer be thanked for her attendance.