1. Better Care Fund (previously known as Integration Transformation Fund)
Eastern Region Housing LIN
Cath Mitchell, Local Chief Officer
Borderline and Peterborough Local Commissioning Group’s

2. National Context
Nationally the health and social care system is under enormous pressure:
Increasing demand for services with decreasing funding
Significant increase in emergency care
Social care not coping with demand, leaving more people struggling to cope
The current situation is unsustainable

3. Local Context
Fast-growing population with increasing proportion of frail elderly
Significant demand for hospital care e.g. nearly half of hospital care and two fifths of social care resources used by people >65 years
Local Authorities and CCG have significant financial pressures and savings to make
Services available now are disjointed

4. The Better Care Fund
The Better Care Fund (previously known as the Integration Transformation Fund) was announced in June 2013 as part of the Treasury Spending Round
The Government will put money into a pooled budget for health and social care to work more closely in local areas, deliver better services to older and disabled people and avoid unnecessary hospital stays
This is not new investment – it is a re-allocation of money currently in health service budgets to transform the pattern of services
We have set up a joint project group with Cambridgeshire County Council and with Peterborough City Council. The plan has to be submitted mid February 2014

5. Government Conditions for the BCF
Plans must:
Be jointly agreed by the County Council and the CCG and signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board
Show how 7 day services will be introduced in health and social care to support discharge from hospital and unnecessary admissions to hospital
Protect social care services
Show how better information sharing between the NHS and the County Council will be introduced, including using people’s NHS number as their primary identifier
Set out an approach to joint care assessment and planning and show the proportion of the population who will receive such support
Set out the impact of changes on the acute sector and show they have been agreed

6. Our Vision Our long-term shared vision is to:
…bring together all of the public agencies that provide health and social care support, especially for older people, to co-ordinate services such as health, social care and housing, to maximise individuals’ access to information, advice and support in their communities, helping them to live as independently as possible in the most appropriate setting
Fundamentally, we believe that the Fund should be used for genuine transformation of the health and social care system, not to plug a gap in social care or health budgets
This transformation is about changing the whole system so that it is focused on supporting people wherever possible with person-centred and professionally-led primary / community / social care, with the goal of living as independently as possible
This transformation will require the input of a range of health and social care providers as well the greater involvement of the community and voluntary sectors

7. A developing Model
We propose a model with the following characteristics:
Investment in community capacity to enable people to meet their needs with support in their local community
Coordinated and intelligence-led early identification and early intervention
An improved approach to crisis management and recovery
A united approach to advice and information on community and public sector services

8. Which would mean the following…
Patients and social care users should expect their care plans and support to be more joined up and sensible
GP and social worker would be aware of each other’s interventions
Patient / client support to be short term but high quality and available again if needed
Single assessment process and a common way of identifying risk and outcomes
Hospital staff to see fewer frail and elderly patients; support provided in community care settings
Effective and timely information sharing

9. Next Steps
We are:
Assessing the evidence produced by the Public Health Team of what works well in integrated care
Identifying projects currently underway which may provide longer term benefit as part of the Better Care Fund plan e.g. Multi-Disciplinary Team working
Engaging with as many key partners and stakeholders as possible within the timescale available
Working together to define the initiatives which would be implemented county-wide