Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services providing an update on the implementation of the Care Act 2014 and the current position of the Better Care Fund.

The Care Act introduced wide-ranging and significant reform to the adult social care system, with an aim to modernise the system and keep pace with the demands of a growing older population. The Act also introduced significant funding reform, with the introduction of a cap on the amount people had to spend on their care, regardless of how much they had in savings or assets.

In June 2013 the Government launched the Better Care Fund, a pooled budget to help integrate health and social care services at a local level. The City of London submitted a bid to the fund in September 2014 and this received full approval from NHS England in January 2015. The City of London and CCG pooled budget was £777,000, a one-off budget for joint City of London and LB Hackney integrated care schemes and for projects to be commissioned by the City.

Members noted that many of the provisions came into force in April 2015, with the remaining provisions (mainly related to funding reform) coming into force in April 2016. Many of the changes formalised practices the City already carried out, but an Implementation Group had been set up to ensure that the City of London was compliant with all areas of the Act. Members also noted that the Better Care Fund plans would begin to be implemented from April 2015.

Members discussed the Act, noting the challenges regarding identifying and raising awareness of the financial reform, particularly amongst people who currently paid for their own care (self-funders), and ensuring there was enough choice for people given the size of the market in the City of London. Members queried whether these changes would improve patient experience regarding discharge into social care from medical services, and officers advised that Care Navigators were in place to facilitate this process. Members also queried what projects would be funded through the one-off Better Care Fund. Officers confirmed these would be pilots to trail innovative and new ways of delivering care and other projects which facilitated integration such as collection of specific data. With regards to ongoing funding, Members noted that further guidance and information was awaited.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted, and a follow-up report be presented at the next meeting with specific examples of integrated care projects being commissioned by the City of London Corporation and some case studies around social care.