The Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration will provide the panel with a verbal update regarding the integration of health and social care.
Minutes:
The Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration advised Members
that, to enable staff to focus on winter pressure issues being experienced at hospitals
over the Christmas period, integration work had recently been paused.
Details were provided in relation to two financial packages that had
been provided to the NHS prior to Christmas, which would help facilitate
hospital discharge arrangements in Middlesbrough.
The first fund provided the NHS with £500m, of which Middlesbrough would
receive circa. £600,000. This would
provide additional capacity around hospital discharge over the period, of which
previous concerns had been raised.
Following agreement with the ICS, a scheme had been implemented and
continued to operate currently. Related
performance was reported to the Department of Public Health on a fortnightly
basis. In terms of the second fund,
Middlesbrough would receive a share of £200m allocated nationally, which would
assist with the purchase of additional bed spaces within care homes and other
provider space. It was indicated that
both funds were to be fully utilised by the end of March 2023, which was felt
to be particularly unrealistic in terms of resolving any deeper issues.
The Director highly commended the work that the teams had carried out
over the Christmas period. A seven-day
presence was provided, with discharge being driven on those days. Flow from hospital to domiciliary care had
been maintained and managers very happy with performance. It was indicated that an end to activity was
being approached, though there was awareness of industrial action taking place
within the NHS.
In terms of continuing with integration work, the Director would be
meeting with ICS colleagues on 9 February 2023 to discuss progress and next
steps. It was felt that the operational
stage would commence shortly.
During discussion, Members discussed the £600,000 of funding awarded to
Middlesbrough and the potential to spend this effectively within the required
four-month period. It was felt that if
this could have been extended to cover the longer term, it may have provided
longer term sustainability.
Consideration was given to discharge arrangements from hospital to both
care home and own home environments, and how the additional funding from both
funds was able to assist with this. The
Director explained that the second block of funding was effectively concerned
with locating beds for individuals, whereas the first block was a little more
open. For example, a small number of
beds were reserved specifically for end-of-life care. A specific amount of money was also reserved
for reablement to enable individuals to return to their own homes and receive
support. Details around expenditure and
regular monitoring of it were required by the Government.
A Member queried the development of a hospital in Stockton-on-Tees and
whether this laid within the ICS arrangements.
In response, the Director explained that a diagnostic centre was being
planned, but no further details were available at present. It was felt that the relationship between
North and South Tees would become closer, with a local dimension being developed
through partnership. It was anticipated
that the hospital would cover both Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough.
The Chair thanked the Director for the information provided.
NOTED