Better Care – what next? … and the answer is not Best Care!

Having concluded (we hope) your agreements for the Better Care Fund, and with the uncertainties of a new comprehensive spending review by the new government, there is a tendency to think "Done that, what is the next problem?".

We suggest that there is a significant opportunity here for local communities to seize the moment and really develop the way they organise health and social care to deliver change. Pre-election statements by Jeremy Hunt indicated that more money is likely to flow through the Better Care Fund route to support social care and the new Conservative administration seems to be committed to the integration agenda, the principle of better co-operation and closer working between different Government agencies.

As a number of places are beginning to demonstrate, there is scope for a much wider approach to joint commissioning, whether through pooled funds or not, and an increasing appetite in Government (at the civil servant level) to promote schemes that support greater devolution of powers locally and change the way these things are done.

In health and spreading to social care, there is also a greater sense of experimentation over delivery of care through new alliances, and commissioners need to understand these and ensure their role is not lost.

One area which may be worth exploring is whether the NHS Right Care model can be adapted to look at improved patterns of care through the Better Care Fund.

Bevan Brittan can help your community take advantage of these opportunities through:

• Advice on options available to expand integration arrangements
• Support for innovative procurements
• Governance and accountability assurance,

as well as provide assurance to your organisations that you have skilled and expert support at hand.

In order to move your community forward we suggest an initial half day development session for a fixed fee of £1000 + VAT. 

This can be tailored to suit your needs.  An example of what can be covered includes:

• Discussing how to improve your current arrangements
• Scope for the future and options for further integration
• How the provider landscape is changing
• What can and should commissioners be doing to shape services given the financial constraints
• To procure or not to procure
• An update on emerging government plans.