Agenda item

Andy Hughes was invited to present an initial draft of the Care and Health Improvement Programme for 2016/17 and beyond. He introduced the programme as an effort to bring together work that the LGA has been involved in with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Department of Health (DoH) into a single coherent sector-led initiative. The aim was to complete the transition from individual programmes to a single, more simplified, offer for the sector positioned around the key areas of leadership, integration, core service delivery (commissioning, markets and safeguarding) and managing risks and resilience.

He highlighted the following key elements of the proposed programme for 2016/17:

·         strengthening the sector-led approach on workforce, commissioning and leadership;

·         engaging with the NHS to take a more holistic approach to the care and health economy;

·         focussing the programme on the core concerns that inhibit integration and are barriers to improvement and change as outlined in paragraph 8 of the report;

·         promoting a universal offer that looks to learn from best practice and provides bespoke offers as required;

·         developing a single care and health economy peer challenge.

Members welcomed the transition to a more simplified offer but recognised several measures in the draft programme that have been proposed before. They suggested that the draft programme could be complemented by a sharper focus on the role of Health and Wellbeing Boards, and that consideration be given to the role of district and borough councils and relationships with Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Action

Andy Hughes will speak to the Community and Wellbeing Portfolio and the proposals will be discussed with a range of external stakeholders before the programme is confirmed in early 2016.

Decision

Members noted the presentation and commented as indicated above.