To review the better care fund 2017/18 quarter two and quarter three national performance reports, as per the requirements of the programme.

The director for adults and wellbeing presented the report. He explained that the council and the clinical commissioning group (CCG) received funding through the Better Care Fund (BCF) via NHS England, and that further funding was channelled through the improved Better Care Fund (iBCF) to the council from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government. Together, both allocations were intended to support integration of health and social care provision.

There was a requirement to provide quarterly update reports to NHS England. These were expected to be signed off by the health and wellbeing board before submission. However, the submission dates tended to be released at short notice which meant they were not aligned to health and wellbeing board meetings. The update reports for quarters 2 and 3 had therefore already been submitted to NHS England through an agreement for delegated approval from the board to the director for adults and wellbeing and the CCG accountable officer. 

In presenting the headlines of the submissions for quarters 2 and 3, the following points were highlighted:

·         There were significant achievements in reducing the number of people going into residential care either by avoiding or postponing need

·         Targets for reducing non-elective admissions and delayed transfers of care (DToC) had been largely achieved, noting that Herefordshire had been given the largest percentage reduction target for any county in the country, being expected to reduce DToC attributable to adult social care by 69% from February 2017.

·         This had been achieved although it had been a challenge and presented pressures across the system, but meant that an expanded range of care and service developments were implemented based on clinical evidence that people did better at home.

·         Members were reminded of recent debate around the future of the facilities provided at the Hillside Centre, and that service developments were connected to investment in community services to enable people to benefit from being at home sooner, and which was reflected in the reduction of DToC.

·         There was good performance across the system and the submissions were commended to the board.

The CCG accountable officer reinforced that this performance was positive and reflected the open relationship between the CCG and partners with meaningful outcomes for people in Herefordshire.

A board member noted that there were people included in the figures who were not Herefordshire residents, and asked what progress was being made in managing discharges across borders for those people.

The CCG accountable officer explained that there had been some difficulties for Powys residents which had been escalated to regional level to address. The Welsh Assembly Government had been involved and there was now a range of measures to get people home more quickly, and some progress had been made between English and Welsh services to support this. 

The chairman asked, in view of the report’s recommendations, what the board sought from this update. A member suggested that it was important to ensure that work was in progress and that the overall plan remained on target.

RESOLVED

That

a)    Performance of the Better Care Fund in quarters 2 and 3 be noted; and

b)    the submissions for quarters 2 and 3 be accepted.