£35.7 million health and care package signed off

Health and social care councillors have agreed a borough’s £35.7 million funding package to help improve services in the year ahead.

Calderdale’s Health and Wellbeing Board agreed to sign off the Better Care Fund cash for 2024-25.

Pooling funding awards from several pots of money, including the NHS, the fund encourages health services and local authorities to work together and agree a spending plan to to support person-centred care, sustainability and achieve better outcomes for people and carers

There is a key focus on prevention, independent living at home, avoiding admissions to hospital, enablement, and better supported discharge from hospital.

Additionally the fund supports delivery of desired outcomes for wellbeing strategies, including helping people to live well, work well and age well.

It should encourage ways of working to create seamless services, harness community strengths, and working together to bring about changes to realise improvements, board members heard.

The fund has a key role in Calderdale’s “home first model” which focuses on services available to its population in the 0–6-week period following discharge from hospital, also ensuring that step-up services are available to prevent unnecessary admissions to hospitals and other health and care settings including care homes.

Debbie Graham, Head of Integration and Partnerships for Calderdale Integrated Care Board, said funding was divided between five categories – information and advice, early intervention schemes, holistic assessment for patients, re-ablement, recovery and rehabilitation, and hospital admission avoidance plus supported discharge for patients.

Unplanned hospital admissions had reduced in the last year but there had been a significant rise in the number of people being admitted because of falls, and work needs doing to understand why this is the case and action taken, the board heard.

More patients are being discharged from residences to their homes, and the plan is also to work towards less people having to be discharged to long-term residential care, following a “home first” model.

Investment in home care and establishing a stable market for residential care is another goal for the year, members heard.

During this year they also agreed to discuss which issues the plan needs to tackle from 2025-26 onwards.