Issue - meetings

Report by Maggie Rae, Corporate Director

The Leader  presented a report which updated Cabinet on the development of Wiltshire’s Better Care Plan, the Fast Track process and the progress in implementing elements of the Plan. This included the Systems Review of the out-of-hospital system and the 100 Day Challenge.

The outcome of the Government spending review published in June 2013

included the announcement that a sum totalling £3.8 billion nationally would be allocated to a single pooled budget for health and social care services to work more closely together in local areas based on an agreed plan between the NHS and the Local Authorities. This money was now referred to as the Better Care Fund (BCF).

The BCF was a mandatory pooled budget intended to support and deliver integrated health and social care services; this would be introduced nationally in 2015/16. The Better Care Fund was not new funding for the health and care system but made up of elements of existing clinical commissioning group (CCG) and local authority budgets.

In Wiltshire, the total BCF budget in 2015/16 was £27.0 Million. The national expectation was that this funding be used to develop integrated services which would reduce the need for hospital care and protect the existing level of social care services.

The Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing Board had signed up to an initiative

called the 100 Day Challenge. This was a system-wide approach, starting

from 1st September, with the aim of reducing the number of attendances and

admissions for frail elderly patients in Wiltshire and reduce the amount of

time they spent in hospital. The 100 Day Challenge would provide an

opportunity to test the new schemes on a practical level to identify and alleviate any barriers.

Cllr Jon Hubbard whilst welcoming the report questioned why it stated that there were no direct safeguarding implications. He suggested that it might have been more appropriate to state that there were complex safeguarding implications which would be assessed and addressed. Maggie Rae confirmed that the safeguarding section of reports was written by safeguarding leads. In this case, it was more about referencing whether what was being proposed should change the approach to safeguarding. Officers would of course, continue to work closely with the Safeguarding team.

Resolved:

That Cabinet note the progress in becoming a national “Fast –tracked” Better Care Plan and the progress in implementing elements of the Plan.

Reason for decision

To keep Cabinet informed of the partnership work in delivering better health and social care for people in Wiltshire