Issue - meetings

The Board is asked to approve the Better Care Fund 2021-2022 Narrative Plan.

Gary Guest and Judith Westcott (30 mins)

The Board considered the Bath and North East Somerset Better Care Fund 2021-2022 Narrative Plan.  Judith Westcott (Senior Commissioning Manager) and Gary Guest (Commissioning Project Manager) presented the report highlighting the following issues:

·  Narrative Plan requirements and overview

·  Scheme monitoring and governance

·  Approach to integration

·  National conditions

·  Covid-19 recovery

A draft version of the plan was submitted to the Better Care Fund (BCF) national team on the submission deadline date (16 November 2021) subject to formal approval by the Health and Wellbeing Board.  The plan is an updated and modernised version of the previous plan and sets out targets, winter planning and ongoing delivery of the business plan.  The Better Care Fund seeks closer working relationships with partners.  The key aim is to enable people to remain in their own homes for longer and to improve “patient flow” on discharge from hospital.  Next year there will be a total refresh of the plan.

There were also two new funding applications for consideration which have received backing from the Locality Commissioning Group. 

The following issues were discussed:

·  It is extremely important to ensure that people can leave hospital without delay and more resources are being put into domiciliary care to support this aim.  The RUH and the Council are committed to working together to help patients.

·  Staff shortages continue to be a challenge, and this is a national issue.  Work is being carried out locally to address this, but staffing remains a concern.

·  Finding suitable and affordable accommodation in Bath is a problem for staff and this requires a wider conversation across the Council.  There is a supply shortage of affordable housing and this has worsened due to some private landlords switching from providing residential accommodation to Airbnb.

·  Good links with mental health services are also important and staff who can work with this level of complexity are required.

RESOLVED:

(1)  To approve the Bath and North East Somerset Better Care Fund 2021-2022 Narrative Plan.

(2)  To approve the following funding applications requesting support from the Better Care Fund:

·  Trusted Assessor (Existing BCF Scheme) - £31,334.60

·  In House Home Care - £80,000 per annum for two years with a total commitment of £160,000 to cover two years of practice.

A copy of the presentation slides is attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes.