Agenda item

Powerpoint presentation by Jon Tomlinson, Interim Assistant Director of Adults Commissioning and Sam Newton, Interim Head of Adult Service, Adult Social Care

Jon Tomlinson, Interim Assistant Director of Adult Commissioning, gave the following powerpoint presentation:-

Better Care Fund Update

-          Building on previous presentations – good progress around integration continues to be made

-          Robust governance and reporting has enabled Rotherham to comply with national requirement to submit information about progress

-          Latest quarterly return (27^th November, 2015) approved by Health and Wellbeing Board and submitted

-          Regional feedback has been received on the Quarter One Return

Main points from Feedback

-          Rotherham is not an outlier in any areas of the BCF

-          We are still working towards meeting two of the national conditions:-

Implementing 7 day working

·           Pilot commenced 1^st December

·           Hospital Discharge Team

NHS Identifier

·           In scope cohort of adults records should be matched by the end of 2015

Moving Forward

-          Key lines of enquiry for NHS England for future BCF Integration

-          Changing format shifting focus from compliance with national conditions to strategy, pace and development of integration

-          Personal health budgets, preventative care and use of integrated records across Health and Social Care are now integration metrics

-          Work to rigorously review current projects has been completed

-          Clearly the BCF remains a key driver for integration of Health and Social Care

-          Target dates and resources have been included within the spending review

-          Senior officers will be meeting on 7^th December to review the strategic vision and priorities

-          A new proposed model at an individual, family and community level will be considered

-          This will feed into and inform the review that has been undertaken

Discussion ensued with the followings issues raised/clarified:-

·           There was massive pressure on the Council to provide services to help the vision become reality.   The Authority needed to ensure that the money was in the right place which was where commissioning and joint commissioning came into its own.  There were probably areas that needed careful consideration and redistribution of the resources into the correct places which would then feed into the agenda of prevention and supporting people into not coming into Social Care as a statutory service.  The challenge was huge but no different to anywhere else in the country. 

·           Integration was the first step and critical.   Agencies in Rotherham were very close to being on the same page with regard to integration and looking to do the same things i.e. provide the best possible care and outcomes for the citizens of Rotherham

·           Joint commissioning was the way forward for Social Care as it reduced duplication and the opportunity for varying rates.  Value for money was vital.  The citizens would be best placed to determine value for money with the drive to personalisation, personal budgets and individuals buying their own services.

·           In terms of commissioning, the Authority had the responsibility for the overall contracting and management of the market and benchmarking would give an indication of whether it was a reasonable rate being charged.  The contracting arrangements, reviewing and monitoring what the Authority received for its money ensured it got best value

·           Benchmarking was just one discipline that could be used to get a sense of whether the charge was consistent or not.  An exercise was currently being undertaken to get an absolute position on what the cost of care in Rotherham was.  That required a proper relationship with the market providers to look at those costs together.  That work was in its infancy and was hoped to bring to a conclusion over the next six months

·           The Trust was absolutely in tune with the Authority in terms of facing the financial challenges but also in providing first class patient care.  The Trust realised that to deliver what it needed to do it had to do something differently and supported what BCF was trying to do

·           There were ongoing discussions with NHS England in trying to reduce the tick box matrix that had to be completed.  Reports were to be submitted to the Health and Wellbeing Board explaining what was behind the numbers in real terms

·           Work was taking place on a proposal to purchase properties into which patients, who no longer required to be in hospital but could not return to their own home, would move into temporarily.   A meeting was to take place with the Foundation Trust Chief Executive to further explore the option

·           Work and a development programme were underway on how to get Social Workers to think differently and changing the message so that every review should make a difference to someone’s life.  The professional standards lead was working with the region and the universities about producing academically qualified Social Workers that were fit to practice, as it had been found over the years, and not just in Rotherham, that students coming out of university had the theory but were less well equipped to work with people in reality.  The Authority was working with universities to ensure the Social Worker training course was fit for purpose

·           The Social Worker training was now generic for both Adults and Children

·           The vision would make it clear that absolute integration was the aim but would at least be meeting what was expected nationally

Jon was thanked for his presentation.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the presentation be noted.

(2)  That the BCF return report be submitted to the Health Select Commission once it had been considered by the Health and Wellbeing Board.

(3)  That a report be submitted to the January meeting of the Commission.