Agenda item - Caring Together: Moving Towards Integration

RESOLVED: That the Health & Wellbeing Board noted the report

19.1    The Executive Director, Health & Adult Social Care and Dr Hobson, representing the CCG introduced the report which covered why there was a drive to integrate, where the process started and what it would take to achieve. They emphasised that integration was not motivated by savings; it was about delivering effective services for the city and the best possible outcomes for patients.

19.2    Councillor Page stated that integration would not address the systemic issues in health and social care and that budget pressures would continue. He understood that while the motivation to integrate was not to address these problems he hoped that closer working would allow the organisations to share intelligence and better consult about service changes in the future.

19.3    The Executive Director, Health & Adult Social Care responded that the sustained period of financial challenge was very likely to continue and that while integration would not directly address this it would ensure that resources are being effectively used. The organisations also needed to learn how to work effectively together so that the Council and CCG can have the difficult conversations with patients that were needed.

19.4    In response to Councillor Page, Wendy Carberry stated that no decision about the closure of the walk in centre had been taken and that the CCG would engage in a full consultation before taking any decisions about future models of care in the community.

19.5    Malcom Dennett urged the Board not to underestimate the complexity of the governance issues involved in integration. The CCG and Local Authority had a different statutory and funding basis. There was a lot of work which needed to be completed during the shadow period. It was not enough to rely on Section 75 Agreements as these were designed for a very different purpose.

19.6    The Chair stated that it was important to remind residents that the Caring Together programme was a way of the Council and CCG working together; the Council had not signed up the local Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP), the STP was not statutory, they varied across the country, and STPs were not an Accountable Care System.

19.7    RESOLVED: That the Health & Wellbeing Board noted the report