Agenda item

Shona McFarlane, Director of Health and Wellbeing, presented a report on the transfer to the Local Authority of the above Grant, details of the local allocations and the recommendations on how it could be spent for the 2014/15 financial year.  NHS England would transfer £6.166M to the Council which included an increase of £1.351M from 2013/14.

Payment of the Social Care Support Grant was to be made via an Agreement under Section 256 of the 2006 NHS Act.  The Agreement would be administered by the NHS England Area Team and would only pass over to local authorities once the Section 256 Agreement had been signed by both parties.

The Grant must be used to support Adult Social Care Services that delivered a health benefit.  However, beyond that broad definition, NHS England wanted to provide flexibility for local areas to determine how the investment in Social Care Services was best used.

Guidance required NHS England to ensure that the local authority agreed with its local health partners on how the funding was best used.  Health and Wellbeing Boards would be the forum for discussions between the Area Teams, CCGs and local authorities on how the funding should be spent.  NHS England would make it a condition of the transfer that RMBC and RCCG had regard to the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for their local population.  It would also be a condition that RMBC demonstrated how the funding transfer would make a positive difference to Service users.

The Fund would be overseen by a robust joint governance framework which supported achievement of the following:-

-          Reduction in emergency admissions

-          Reduction in delayed transfers of care from hospital

-          Proportion of older people still at home 91 days after hospital discharge into rehabilitation

-          Number of re-admissions to hospital within 30 days of discharge

It was proposed that the Grant be used to support existing Services and Transformation Programmes where such services or programmes were of benefit to the wider health and care system:-

·           Additional short term residential care places or respite and intermediate care

·           Increased capacity for home care support, investment in equipment, adaptations and telecare

·           Investment in crisis response teams and preventative services to avoid hospital admission

·           Further investment in reablement services to help people regain their independence

The appendix to the report submitted set out the proposed spending programme.

Discussion ensued on the proposed spending programme with the following issues raised:-

-          Would consideration be given to the individuals entering the criminal justice system as part of the Mental Health Service?

-          Was there sufficient funding for the development of community based Dementia Care

-          RDaSH would be evaluating their triage project which had been running in conjunction with the Police

Resolved:-  (1)  That the programme of expenditure set out in the report be approved.

(2)  That the development of a light-touch performance framework for the Grant be approved.

(3)  That as part of the Board review, the processes and sub-groups be reviewed together with the appropriateness of the memberships.