Agenda item

The purpose of this paper is to invite the Health and Wellbeing Board to review and sign-off the ‘draft’ Surrey-wide Better Care Fund plan and to submit to NHS England by 14 February 2014.

Witnesses:

Susie Kemp, Assistant Chief Executive, Surrey County Council

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    The Chairman introduced the report to the Board. The Better Care Fund draft plan aims to encourage integrated working and deliver better health outcomes and experiences for residents in Surrey. The Chairman explained that further work would need to be undertaken prior to the final submission date on 4 April 2014. More work will also be required with the local joint commissioning groups in the six clinical commissioning group areas.

2.    Board Members congratulated officers for their work on preparing the Better Care Fund planning template for submission at short notice. The Board noted that good progress was being made.

3.    A member of the board highlighted that some of the funds referred to in the finance summary sat with the NHS rather than Surrey County Council. The Chairman agreed that some of the guidance around the Better Care Fund was unclear and would need further clarification before final submission.

4.    Members of the board agreed that the timeframe for writing the draft report had been challenging but had also allowed for closer working and focussed discussions to take place. It was agreed that everyone should be made aware that this was a joint budget with existing funding.

5.    It was felt that more work needed to be done at the local level and a discussion around how the funding would be used was needed. The Chairman stated that there were existing positive relationships with providers on the local level which would be affected by the Better Care Fund plan. It was therefore essential for the Board to carefully plan its next steps going forward.

6.    The Chief Constable raised concerns over the incorporation of feedbackinto the draft plan. The Assistant Chief Executive stated that comments had been taken on board but more time would be required between now and April to fully incorporate the comments of Surrey Police. The Better Care Fund template is functional in its layout and has been filled out as required with the aim of satisfying the submission criteria and stakeholders.

7.    A member of the Board advised that they saw increased level of involvement of the Police on the local level as part of the Whole Systems Funding.

8.    The Assistant Chief Executive clarified that the report being considered was only ‘draft’ and would be coming back to the Board for final sign off in April before final submission to the Department of Health.

9.    Mrs Joan Spiers stated that active involvement with the District and Boroughs would be required on the Better Care Fund plan. The tight timescales involved in producing the draft plan were understood however further involvement was requested going forward.

10.  The Chairman agreed that drafts of the Better Care Fund plan would be sent to all members of the Board before final sign off. Once final sign off had been agreed at the beginning of April, the integration work could begin. The Better Care Fund plan allowed for all stakeholders of the Board to be bound by a framework where all were responsible to the public.

11.  It was agreed that the wording of the recommendation before the Board should be amended to replace the term ‘sign-off’ with ‘approve the submission of’ to better reflect the process involved. .

Resolved:

·         The ‘draft’ Surrey-wide Better Care Fund plan be approved for submission to NHS England by 14 February 2014.

Actions/Next Steps:

That drafts of the Better Care Fund plan be sent to all members of the Board before final sign off.