To approve the joint commissioning and Better Care Fund first Submission.

The Director of Adults Wellbeing presented a report on the Better Care Fund (BCF) Submission, and highlighted the following issues:

·                That the initial submission, made on the 14 February, had been well received and that the next iteration would be submitted on the 4 April.  Since the initial submission, progress had been made in three areas: governance, additional potential areas for pooled funding, and the non-recurrent nature of current funding streams.

·                That the guidance that had been received had changed throughout this process and had shifted in emphasis. April 2014 was no longer the final submission date, but a staging post.   There would be another submission date in June, and there were indications of further submissions to be made in September and January 2015.

·                That there was a requirement within the submission to state the vision for 2015/16, and this was included in the report, together with the five key transformational priorities.

·                That it had been acknowledged that more work was needed in certain areas of the submission, and this would be the main focus over the next 12 weeks.

·                That the Health and Wellbeing Board would take the leadership of the Better Care Fund Governance in order to provide the residents of the County with a way of influencing the process.

In reply to a question from the Chairman, the Director said that the initial document had been peer reviewed by both the Local Area Team and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) as part of the submission process.  The submission had been well received, although there had been an issue raised around the assessment of acute pathways.

The Director of Children’s Wellbeing added that a review of the Terms of Reference, Membership and Work Programme of the Health and Wellbeing Board would be undertaken over the next month in order to ensure that both were fit for purpose in the light of the submission and the likely increase in the BCF requirements.

In the ensuing discussion, the following points were made:

·                That it was encouraging to see that plans were not being made in silos.

·                That the housing sector was not presently represented on the Board.

·                That a Joint Commissioning Board would be set up between the Clinical Commissioning Group and the Council in order to make better informed commissioning decisions and use of resources. 

·                A day would be set aside to ensure that the BCF priorities met with the needs of the county as represented by the Systems Leaders Group.

RESOLVED:

THAT:

(a)     The next iteration of the Better Care Fund (BCF) submission be agreed for submission to NHS England on the 4^th April 2014;

(b)       Sign off of the submission would be through a meeting of the Chief Officer Clinical Commissioning Group, Director of Adult Well Being Herefordshire Council, Chair of Health and Wellbeing Board on 2^nd April 2014

(c)       The proposed governance arrangements for the programme of activities associated with the BCF in 2014/15 be agreed

(d)       The terms of reference for the Health and Wellbeing Board be reviewed to ensure that they reflect the requirements of the BCF.