Better Care Fund

What is the Better Care Fund?

The Government announced plans for increasing integration in June 2013 and intended the Better Care Fund (BCF) to be a “catalyst” for change. The Hampshire plan underpins the joint Health and Well Being Strategy and has been developed and agreed by the Hampshire Health and Wellbeing Board.

The £80 million pooled BCF budget of existing fundingwill be used locally to provide integrated (joined-up) health and social care services. Although this is not new or additional money, joint plans must satisfy national conditions and performance measures to ensure we use it to make a difference for local people.

The programme of transformation launched by Hampshire County Council (HCC) and the five Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across the county will support the health and social care system to work more closely together in local areas.

 

What difference will the Better Care Fund make?

The plans we have developed will ensure we work together to:

• Provide the right care in the right place at the right time
• Maximise health, wellbeing and quality of life
• Place the person at the centre of care.

Some of the ways in which we will do this include:

• Ensuring we have the right out of hospital care in place so people can be cared for as close to their home as possible
• Co-commissioning (buying) care at home including NHS Continuing Healthcare and Funded Nursing Care
• Using telecare and telehealth systems more effectively
• Developing rehabilitation and reablement services.

 

How quickly will it happen?

The Better Care Fund has the following three phases over the next five years:

• Phase one (2014 – 2016)

o   Integrating delivery of services for older people including dementia and carers

o   Establish a joint integration team sponsored by HCC and all CCGs to implement the programme

• Phase two (2016 – 2018)

o   People with learning disabilities and mental health needs, adults with long term conditions and people who may need NHS Continuing Healthcare

• Phase three (2018 – 2019)

o   Young people in transition including those who require complex rehabilitation and access to NHS Continuing Healthcare.

 

What changes will local people see?

Local people will be able to experience a different range of services becoming available in the community, such as the Integrated Care Teams. These services will provide the support and care local people need which will result in:

• Not all people who currently need to go to hospital for care will need to be admitted
• A shorter length of stay for those who are admitted
• People with the most complex medical need will continue to need to go to hospital and some specialised services will be concentrated in centres of excellence
• Community services that will work more closely with hospital services to ensure smooth transfers of care.

 

How can local people get involved?

All of the CCGs across Hampshire have recently asked people what they think health and social care should look like in five years time. This feedback has been used to help shape the CCG’s five year strategies and the BCF. We will continue to involve local people and seek their views on the difference BCF plans are making as this work gets underway.