Decision details

Proposed Decision:

Accept the Urgent and Emergency Care Funding under the terms set out by the Department of Health and Social Care and delegate authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Health to develop plans to deploy the grant funding and take relevant actions, including but not limited to entering into and finalising the terms of relevant contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.

Background:

In July 2023 the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced £600m of funding over two years to enable local authorities to go further in improving adult social care capacity. In that announcement, the DHSC said that it intended to make £30m of this funding available this year to local authorities in areas with the greatest health and care challenges. The DHSC subsequently increased the available funding by £10m to provide for a £40m fund. The £40 million will enable selected local authorities to support urgent and emergency care performance and resilience for residents over the winter period. The intention is to provide targeted funding for local authorities in areas with the greatest urgent and emergency care challenges.

Local authorities were invited to develop proposals, in which they were expected to agree with the relevant Integrated Care Board (ICB) and provide evidence of ICB views on the proposals in their application form.

Assessment criteria for proposals:

·         Impact on urgent and emergency care resilience and performance over the winter  period, whether by helping prevent avoidable admissions or by reducing discharge delays

·         Are deliverable over the winter 2023/24 period

·         Are additional to existing LA expenditure and capacity plans and linked to NHS winter surge plans and Better Care Fund demand and capacity plans, for example by addressing gaps identified in those plans. Section 151 officers will be required to assure that funding has been used to purchase additional services and capacity in line with the MoU

Adult social care, in agreement with the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board, has submitted a proposal to support the resilience of urgent and emergency care services across Kent. The funding will be targeted in areas of Kent with the most challenged performance (East Kent) of urgent and emergency care services and to address capacity gaps across the county.

The alternative was to not submit a proposal, however this would have a significant negative impact on the resilience of urgent and emergency care services in Kent over the winter period.

The proposed decision supports Priority 4 of Framing Kent’s Future to ensure that adults who draw on social care support lead the lives they want to live, by putting their needs at the heart of everything we do, whilst successfully innovating and responding to the challenges to social care funding.

As Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, I:

a) ACCEPT the Urgent and Emergency Care Funding under the terms set out by the Department of Health and Social Care and

b) DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Health to develop plans to deploy the grant funding and take relevant actions, including but not limited to entering into and finalising the terms of relevant contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.