Agenda item

The Committee will receive an update on the progress being made in delivering the Better Care Fund Plan.

The Chairman introduced an update on the progress being made in delivering the Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan.

The Chairman invited Helen Mullinger (Commissioning Manager) and Karl Deeprose (Senior commissioner) to introduce the report, which included a presentation that had been attached to the agenda. The presentation provided an overview of the Better Care Fund and included, but was not limited to:

• It was detailed that the total budget for 2024/25 was £68.2m and that BCF plans must be agreed by the Integrated Care Board, with guidance provided from the national team as to how spending could be attributed.
• An overview of the national context for the Better Care Fund was provided.
• An overview of the key services and contracts provided by the Better Care Fund was provided as well as the costs incurred for the 2024/25 budget. It was noted that many of the schemes in place linked.
• The Fund is held to account by the national team who had set performance metrics and targets. Detail was provided on how the Fund measured against the 2023/24 performance metrics as well as the planned performance for 2024/25.
• The reporting of the Fund was outlined, with it noted that the Health and Wellbeing Board oversaw the delivery.
• Extensive work led by the Integrated Care Board relating to demand and capacity had taken place, which had enabled the Fund to plan on an operational level using a modelling tool.
• Additional discharge funding had been received with direction provided by the national team on how the funds would be used.
• An overview of the contract re-commissioning for the next 12-18 months was provided.

The Committee asked the following questions, which included but were not limited to why there was a significant drop in the planned admissions to residential care from 2023/24 to 2024/25. Clarity provided that the 2024/25 data would only include new admissions as the Fund was no longer required to use ASCOF data and was therefore able to collect local data using its own agreed methods. Further detail was provided on hospital discharges into care homes, with it stated that there was a practice within adult social care that where possible residents were not discharged from a hospital to a care home.

Clarity was provided that regarding the origins of the Better Care Fund, which was established by health providers and local authorities to provide the ability to work together to jointly commission services and improve integrated working across health and social care. It was stated that joint decisions were made on how to spend the funding, with a large proportion being spent on adult social care services. Clarity was provided that the performance metrics in place related only to the Better Care Fund and were set by the national team. Additionally, reablement was a Council service that was funded significantly by the Better Care Fund.

It was noted that “system wide support” accounted for the categorisation of some of the schemes in place that provided wider support for elements supporting capacity within adult social care teams. It was noted that the funding for the Better Care Fund was wholly held by Council and was kept separate to the Council budget.

At the conclusion of the discussion, it was;

Resolved:

1. That the Health Select Committee would receive an update in 12 months, or sooner if issues were raised by the Health and Wellbeing board, with a focus on community equipment and any adjustments to budget to meet demand.