To update Health and Wellbeing Board members on Herefordshire’s Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan 2026/27 and seek formal Health and Wellbeing Board approval.

Hilary Hall introduced Herefordshire's Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan 2026/27 and the associated narrative plan and numerical template submissions.  The plan supported priorities to help people remain independent, strengthen Home First and reablement, improve hospital discharge and flow, and reduce avoidable demand on hospital and long-term care services.

The overall BCF funding allocation had increased by approximately £0.584m compared with 2025/26, but the uplift did not fully meet inflationary and demand pressures.  The plan therefore included agreed mitigations, while significant risks remained around workforce capacity, care market provision, and discharge demand.

It was reported that 2026/27 reflected the first phase of national BCF reform, requiring a clearer shift to demonstrating impact through integrated, neighbourhood-based delivery.  Herefordshire’s BCF funding was structured around three core workstreams: discharge, flow and system co-ordination; intermediate integrated care; and prevention, carers and community support.

Resolved:  That

a)           The Herefordshire Better Care Fund 2026/27 Narrative Plan and Numerical Template, as submitted to NHS England, have 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.