To update the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) members on the Herefordshire’s Better Care Fund (BCF) End of Year 2025/26 performance template and seek formal Health and Wellbeing Board approval.

Hilary Hall updated the board on the Better Care Fund (BCF) 2025/26 year-end position.  The main points included:

i.             All national BCF conditions had been met.  The 2025/26 plan had been approved by NHS England with a local condition requiring a delivery plan to achieve metric goals.

ii.            Performance was in line with the targets in terms of emergency admissions to hospital for people aged 65 and over, and long-term admissions to residential care homes and nursing homes for people aged 65 and over.  The target for average length of discharge delay for all acute adult patients had not been achieved.

iii.          Progress had been made in strengthening integrated working, including Discharge to Assess processes, multidisciplinary team working, and stronger partnership governance.

iv.          The BCF ended 2025/26 with an overspend of £2.208m, principally relating to hospital discharge, with additional pressures in Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHP), and safeguarding.  The cost pressure had been met by additional contributions to the pooled budget by Herefordshire Council and Wye Valley NHS Trust.

In response to questions from the Chairperson about the overspends in DoLS and safeguarding, Hilary Hall explained that the pressures reflected increased demand and local capacity constraints, including the use of agency staff.

Resolved:  That

a)           The Better Care Fund 2025/26 end-of-year report, as submitted to NHS England, has been reviewed and approved retrospectively by the board; and

b)          The ongoing work to support integrated health and care provision that is funded via the Better Care Fund be noted.