Agenda item

Stephen Beet introduced this report and made the following points during the presentation:

·       The purpose of the report was to assess the outturn return of the 2022/23 Better Care Fund (BCF) and ensure endorsement of the submission prior to being signed off by the HWBB.

·       The purpose of the 2013 Act was as a vehicle to drive social care and health integration and a local pool budget was created for this purpose

·       The ICP and Integrated Care Board were created to oversee the process

·       There were three submissions under the BCF all of which required approval

·       Submission for Adult Social Care Hospital Discharge Funding had already taken place by the 2^nd May 2023 deadline. This had been invested in new schemes to achieve a positive impact

·       Planned expenditure for 2023/25 was required for 28^th June 2023 and delegated authority was sought to give to the Chair including the disabled facilities grant with the majority coming from the existing BCF Fund

·       Details of what the £92.4 Million were spent on was set out

·       Local Authority and ICB grants were available for hospital discharge with different conditions

·       £87.3 Million was spent on a variety of schemes set out including community based schemes

·       £5.1 Million had been allocated for Adult Social Care Discharge Funding

·       There were 730,000 patients on residential placements with two schemes added to the additional plan and £1.8 Million added to the ICB

·       The target for unplanned hospitalisations was currently not on schedule to be met following the challenges over the winter period

·       This would provide the opportunity to try to reduce the number of admissions into residential care with current rates higher than they should be

·       The target for reablement was scheduled to be met

·       The Board was requested to approve the recommendations and give authority to Councillor Helen Holland in her capacity as Chair of the HWBB to approve the 2023/24 submission before the next formal Board meets

It was noted that the plans would match the plans with the funding available and to ensure that it operated on a sustainable basis.

Board members made the following comments:

·       The process would help to identify where the money was being spent. However, there remained a contradiction between the Government’s priority to create a care hotel and the Council’s priorities

·       It was important that the policy should be sustainable

·       The role of each of the three HWBB’s in reporting through to the ICB was important and into the BNSSG

·       In relation to expenditure on mental health and homelessness, further work was required to ensure strategic intentions fit with the mechanism

·       The system had developed over a decade on an ad-hoc basis with funding layers being added as required

·       There were areas that needed to be included such as Changing Futures

·       Health and care Integration also needed to be considered

·       Monitoring could take place through regular update reports to future HWBB meetings

Resolved: – that the Better Care Fund 2022/23 is signed off by the Health and Well Being Board and delegated authority is given to councillor Helen Holland in her capacity as Chair of the HWBB to sign off and report back as appropriate  Action: Stephen Beet – delegated authority by the HWBB to Councillor Helen Holland

Other Actions: (1) future HWBB meetings to hold regular monitoring sessions to assess whether Better Care Fund is meeting its targets (both as Bristol HWBB and across BNSSG Local Authorities) – Mark Allen to arrange in conjunction with Stephen Beet (2) involve Locality Partnerships in the process – Mark Allen to schedule a future Development Session