The Board received a presentation from the Head of Commissioning, Adult Care and Support which outlined a summary of the 2019/20 submission to NHS England for the Better Care Fund (BCF) which formed an extension of the Joint BHR Narrative Plan agreed for 2017-19 and, following sign-off by the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Board, was presented before the deadline of 27 September. Informally the Council has been notified that the Plan had been approved.
In response to the broad summary of financial sources making up the pooled budget, Councillor Carpenter sought clarity on the breakdown of the CCG
financial contribution and queried why this year the local authority had decided not to provide additional funds beyond its iBCF allocation.
Sharon Morrow confirmed that the CCG monies in the main related to contracts held with a range of NHS providers. In respect of the latter the Director of People and Resilience stated that no additional funding had been considered by the Council given the challenging financial position.
The Board requested that a full financial breakdown of the submission summarised in the narrative be circulated to all Board Members.
There were a number of exciting projects/schemes making up the Strategy as part of the narrative and specific reference was made to a mental health improvement project on Thames View (Thrive - ThamesView) and a relational and strengths-based social work practice model that sought to improve collaborative working, social networks and enhance wellbeing, value the capacity and potential in individuals and communities and reduce bureaucracy.
The Chair agreed that an update be presented in six months-time summarising progress of the BCF projects/schemes, from which the Board could then decide whether they wished to select specific schemes for more in-depth review.
The Deputy Chair confirmed that he had been made aware that both the British Red Cross (BRC) and Age UK had received additional funding from NHS England to support the predicted winter health pressures. The funding allocated to both organisations through the BCF represented match funding and in the case of the BRC additional commissioned work. The Chair stressed the importance of officers ensuring there was no duplication across the range of organisations funded through the BCF.