Agenda item

To consider a report of the Chief Finance Office (CCG) and Deputy Chief Executive (S151 Officer).

The report provides the Better Care Fund (BCF) financial plan for 2022-23.

The Board are recommended to approve the BCF 2022-23 Financial Planning.

Officer contact: Paul Graham on 0161 474 4674 or email: paul.graham@stockport.gov.uk  and Alison Johnson by email: alison.johnson4@nhs.net

A representative of the Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer, Stockport Council submitted a joint report with the Chief Finance Officer, Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group (copies of which had been circulated) regarding the Better Care Fund (BCF) financial planning for 2022/23.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         That the pandemic had accelerated the approach to the spending review which had given the opportunity to think about investment in a way that would make the greatest impact.

·         That there were opportunities through collaborative working, One Stockport and the Integrated Care System to review how these spends were being made.

·         It was queried why too many patients were being discharged through pathway 2.

·         In response, Board members were advised that the answer lay in why the Better Care Fund had been brought into fruition to support people to get home through the home first ethos that had been emphasised in the One Stockport Health and Care Plan. In respect of why too many patients were being discharged through pathway 2, this was the result of a wide variety of reasons including the culture of clinicians which were sometimes more cautious and may use a bed if it was available when a patient could perhaps go home, the patient and patient family’s choice and preference for a bed and on rare occasion the finite number of care packages. However, the home first ethos was being encouraged as much as possible recognising that home care was the more desirable option.

·         It was queried how many children in the borough were classed as unpaid carers.

·         In response it was stated that the difficulty was identifying children that were young carers in order to then link them with the support available. The figures from the 2011 Joint Needs Assessment quoted 2115 carers under the age of 25 in the borough.

RESOLVED – That the Better Care Fund 2022/23 Financial Planning be approved.