The Board received a presentation that provided an update of recent actions including (i) an overview of the considerations and outcome of the internal review of the local Better Care Fund (BCF) plans; (ii) an update on proposed and future changes to the BCF (including areas for future integration); and (iii) an update on changes expected at a national level and anticipated assurance dates for the BCF plan sign-off for 2021-22. The discussions arising from the presentation including questions and comments regarding the BCF may be summarised as follows:

The Board

v  Asked about the benefits of pooled and aligned budgets to deliver more efficient and effective services that can lead to better outcomes for local people.

v  Noted that there a number of good examples of pooled budgets working in a smaller scale through the BCF and it is a real opportunity to think much more radically about how agencies join up their collective resources and to think about shifting investment to avoid some of these issues getting worse before they land in the Acute Sector. That is what partners want to and to challenge themselves about getting serious with regard to the pooling of budgets

v  Noted that the partnersas a group of system leaders recognise that they have to have that conversation now or lose that opportunity especially regarding delegations to Borough and the local areas. Also to be very clear as to their shared ambition and to make sure that their goals both politically and within the wider public health agenda are harmonised.

v  Noted that potentially there are opportunities (i) around supporting multi-disciplinary teams in the network of GP practices; and (ii) around how do we get some voluntary sector organisations involved.

v  Agreed that these developments need to be in line with the Integrated Care System (ICS) changes and that this will be worked on in the coming weeks

v  Agreed that partner agencies need to look at the total resource for a particular area e.g. learning disability and to be willing to (i) put those resources together in pooled or an aligned budget; (ii) consider what are the outcomes they want to achieve with a particular cohort of people; (iii) think about all the potential challenges and situation; and (iv) agree where any pilots for pooled or an aligned budget should take place.

v  Agreed that this has been a really good start a conversation about the BCF but it would be helpful for an ongoing discussion about the development of pooled or aligned budgets and where to pilot those at the next meeting together with the introduction of the Integrated Care System (ICS).

As a result of considerations on the report the Board:

1.    Noted the report on the proposed areas of integration from 2022-23; and

2.    Agreed for a further discussion on the development of pooled or aligned budgets at the next meeting together with the introduction of the Integrated Care System (ICS)