The Board received a report on Better Care Fund (BCF) 2023-25 Plan that asks for approval of the Tower Hamlets Better Care Fund Plan for 2023-25 as part of the NHS England Assurance process. A summary of the discussions on this report is set out below:

The Board:

v  Understood that the Better Care Fund (BCF) is aimed at bringing together health and social care organisations to plan, fund and commission integrated services.

v  Noted that the BCF Policy Framework sets out four national conditions that all BCF plans must meet to be approved. These are: (i) A jointly agreed plan between local health and social care commissioners and signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board; (ii) Plan for enabling people to stay well, safe and independent at home for longer and provide the right care in the right place at the right time; (iii) Provide the right care in the right place at the right time; and (iv) Maintaining NHS’s contribution to adult social care and investment in NHS commissioned out of hospital services.

v  Noted that the Tower Hamlets BCF has been rolled over from the previous year. A review will be carried out in 2023 of the BCF areas of spend with the intention to make changes to the 2024-25 plan next year.

v  Noted the BCF is focussed on integrating health and social care services to better support people with a diverse range of illnesses and conditions. These include people with mental health problems, people at risk of being admitted to hospital and people being discharged from hospital with appropriate support. It also funds Reablement which supports people to learn or relearn skills necessary for daily living following ill-health or disability; the adaptation of the domestic accommodation of people with disabilities to enable them to live at home, and the training of staff in the use of assistive technology.

v  Noted that as the BCF is used to fund a number of schemes across health and social care each scheme has a contract and within that there will be performance indicators in relation to how that money is spent by both the Council and the Integrated Care Board.

v  Noted that in relation to the BCF there is a finance group that meets on a quarterly basis that goes through and looks at the spending against each of the schemes.

v  Noted that this year's BCF winter schemes are fully committed, and they are based on last year's outturn.

v  Noted in regard to the Inflationary price uplifts they are not currently in line with inflation and is a central government decision.

v  Noted that the healthcare infrastructure is having to respond to a significant backlog of planned care. Increases in non-covid activity, as well as increased acuity in patients, are resulting in system-wide pressures, in particular across primary care, the ambulance service, Emergency Departments and mental health services.

v  Agreed that it was important to closely monitor key services to ensure that they are absolutely as effective as they can be and that there needs to be (i) a review of the Better Care Fund spend areas during 2023; and (ii) a report with recommendations to be presented to the HWBB in December 2023.