Agenda item

BETTER CARE FUND AND IMPROVED BETTER CARE FUND PERFORMANCE UPDATE - Q2 2020/21

Minutes:

Report ACH20-082

 

The Board considered a report providing an overview of Quarter 2 (July to September 2020) performance of both the Better Care Fund (BCF) and the Improved Better Care Fund (iBCF) 2020/21 on expenditure and activity.

 

Bromley was responding to the following national metrics for the BCF:

a. Reduction in non-elective admissions;

b. Delayed transfers of care (DToCs) (delayed days);

c. Rate of permanent admissions to residential care per 100,000 populations; and

d. Proportion of older people (65 and over) who were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital into reablement / rehabilitation services.

 

The LBB Integrated Strategic Commissioner for Early Intervention advised that Bromley’s performance against three of the four metrics detailed had been in line with, or exceeded, anticipated targets. It was noted that Delayed Transfer of Care (DToC) for March 2020 – September 2020 were not available as NHS England had paused this collection as a result of reduced reporting capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. In respect of admissions to residential care, the planned target for admissions to residential care for Quarter 2 2020-21 had been met. This continued the trend from Quarter 1 2020-21, and was also lower than the same period in 2019-20 which saw 124 admissions. In relation to reablement, there was a 91-day lag for data and therefore Quarter 2 data was only up to the end of July 2020, however the most recent data showed that the target of 90% was being exceeded, with delivery of 90.9%. This was a slight reduction compared to Quarter 1 (95.9%), and the same period in 2019-20.

 

The feedback received had highlighted several common themes across these projects, including:

-  An increase in the number of COVID-19 related queries at the SPA;

-  Increase in online provision;

-  Increase in online client engagement;

-  Growth in client retention rates;

-  Strengthening of partnership working;

-  Increase in befriending request; and

-  Enhanced support provided to staff.

 

In response to a question regarding the data for admissions to residential care for Quarter 2, the LBB Integrated Strategic Commissioner for Early Intervention advised that 425 people had been last years’ target – this target had remained the same for the current year due to a delay in updated metrics being provided by NHS England. The cumulative figure for Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 was 202.8 admissions, which indicated that if this trend continued, admissions at the end of the year would be less than 425. It was noted that a population correcting calculation had been provided in the report, which allowed them to compare the data across other authorities.

 

The Chairman noted that performance on the projects currently looked good. A difficult period was about to be entered and it was anticipated that figures would rise, however there was some flexibility.

 

A Member queried if the table of BCF schemes for 2020/21 (page 30 of the agenda pack) was accurate, as the variation figure was ‘£0’ for all schemes. The Director of Adult Social Care said that this was due to the assumption that the allocation against each budget line would be spent. The Borough Based Director echoed this, and noted that they would not expect to under- or over-spend on these budget lines.

 

RESOLVED that the Better Care Fund and Improved Better Care Fund Performance Update report for Q2 2020-21 be noted.

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