Agenda item

The Assistant Director, Adult Social Care updated the Panel on the progress of the Better Care Fund (BCF).  The BCF plan would create a health and social care pooled budget between the Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which brought together services for adults to improve service integration and outcomes.

The final BCF plan for Slough had agreed a pooled budget of £8.762m for 2015/16, of which the Council contribution would be £694k. The pooled budget was a relatively small proportion of local public spending on adult social care but involved new ways of working.  Alignment of spending on shared priorities between partners would therefore be important, particularly in the context of significant budget reductions overall for adult social care.  BCF delivery would focus on proactive care; a single point of access into integrated care services; and strengthening community capacity and the Panel were updated on the progress made against each of these priority areas.  The key challenges included balancing rising demands on the system against ongoing financial pressures.

The Panel asked a number of questions and discussed a range of issues including the funding position and the Single Point of Access for professionals to help identify the right service for their clients.  In relation to proactive care, which involved targeting support at the most vulnerable and those who were the most at risk of ill health, Members asked about the identification process for vulnerable people.  They were informed that social care already had a good understanding about their clients and a risk assessment tool was used with GPs to identify people at risk who may need a care plan or proactive support.  Work was underway with GPs to improve the ‘inter operability’ of systems and record keeping and an Integrated Care Team pilot.

The Panel noted the update and agreed to receive a further update in June 2015.

Resolved –

(a)  That the current progress and future planned activity in relation to the Better Care Fund Plan 2015/16 be noted.

(b)  That the Panel receive a further BCF update at the meeting in June 2015.