Agenda item

Better Care Fund S75 Agreement

Meeting of Tower Hamlets Health and Wellbeing Board, Tuesday, 10th March, 2015 5.00 p.m. (Item 4.3)

Lead Officer : Robert McCulloch Graham

The report introduces the terms of the section 75 agreement, as well as proposing for specific approval the intended governance arrangements of the Tower Hamlets Better Care Fund.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Note that the terms of the Tower Hamlets Better Care Fund section 75 agreement between NHS Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group (the CCG) and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (the Council) as attached at Appendix 2 to this report are consistent with the Better Care Fund Plan approved by HWB on 9 September 2014 and recommend approval of the agreement to the CCG and the Council;

Note the lead commissioning arrangements for managing the delivery of the Tower Hamlets Better Care Fund;

Delegate authority for overseeing delivery of the Better Care Fund plan to the Tower Hamlets Integrated Care Board and to note the arrangements for reporting of progress back to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Minutes:

Robert Mcculloch-Graham, Corporate Director, Education Social Care and Wellbeing) introduced the report.

He outlined the establishment of the £5.3bn Better Care Fund (formerly the Integration Transformation Fund). It was noted that the Fund was a Government initiative to ensure a transformation in integrated health and social care. The Better Care Fund (BCF) is one of the most ambitious ever programmes across the NHS and Local Government. It created a local single pooled budget to incentivise the NHS and local government to work more closely together around people, placing their well-being as the focus of health and care services.

The Tower Hamlets Better Care Fund plan was submitted to the Department of Health in April 2014, a revised version was submitted in September 2014 and approval of the plan was confirmed by NHS England on 07 January 2015 (see Appendix 1). The plan has effect from 01 April 2015. The planned expenditure covered by the Better Care Fund plan is £21.577 million in 2015/16.

In order to provide a governance framework for the commissioning and delivery of the Better Care Fund and the management of the budget and expenditure, an agreement made under Section 75 of the National Health Services Act 2006 was required. This agreement included the following core components:

· Commissioning arrangements, including confirmation of which agency would act as Lead Commissioner for each element of the fund;

· Governance arrangements, including arrangements for reporting progress in delivering the plan to the Health and Wellbeing Board;

· Arrangements for management of the pooled funds;

· Arrangements for managing risk across the partners to the agreement;

· Information about each of the individual schemes which together made up the Better Care programme; and

· A standard range of terms and conditions covering issues such as dispute resolution and information sharing.

In response to questions, the Board heard that the Lead Commissioner was ultimately accountable to the Health and Wellbeing Board for the delivery of the Better Care Fund plan. It was recommended that the Health and Wellbeing Board devolved responsibility for overseeing delivery of the Better Care Fund plan to the Integrated Care Board, a sub-group of the Board. It was further recommended that the Integrated Care Board provide an annual report on performance against the plan, to include any recommendations for change. The Integrated Care Board, would report to the Health and Wellbeing Board as required.

It was noted that if the recommendation to devolve oversight to the Integrated Care Board was agreed, the Terms of Reference for the Integrated Care Board would be amended to reflect the additional requirements relating to overseeing plan delivery about the proposal for monthly meetings of all parties.

Members also noted the proposed timescale as April 2015.

Following discussion, it was

ReSOLVED:

That Subject to Mayoral approval, the Health and Wellbeing Board:

Note that the terms of the Tower Hamlets Better Care Fund Section 75 Agreement between NHS Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group (the CCG) and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (the Council) as attached at Appendix 2 to this report were consistent with the Better Care Fund Plan approved by HWB on 9 September 2014 and recommend approval of the agreement to the CCG and the Council;

Note the lead commissioning arrangements for managing the delivery of the Tower Hamlets Better Care Fund;

Delegate authority for overseeing delivery of the Better Care Fund plan to the Tower Hamlets Integrated Care Board and to note the arrangements for reporting of progress back to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

4. Strengthen patient and voluntary sector representation on the Integrated Care Board.

Supporting documents:

logo

Agenda item

Better Care Fund S75 Agreement