Agenda and minutes

To receive a report on the appointment of Substitute Members.

Any Member of the Board who is unable to attend the meeting

may appoint a substitute member. The Contact Officer

must be notified prior to the commencement of the meeting.

Pursuant to the Council’s constitution the appointment of the following substitute members was reported:-

Chloe Mann for Kedar Kale (Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Trust)

Voting Members of the Board are invited to declare any

registerable and/or non-registerable interests in matters

appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest. They

are also invited to disclose any dispensation in relation to any

registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been

granted in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

Non voting members are invited to declare any conflicts of

interest in matters appearing on the agenda and the nature of

that interest.

There were no declarations of interest or dispensations reported.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2020.

Resolved that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 10 December 2021 be confirmed and signed by the Chair

To confirm the continued operation of the Better Care Fund in 2020/21 in line with national conditions.

The Better Care Fund was a programme spanning both the NHS and local government which sought to join-up health and care services so that people could manage their own health and wellbeing and live independently in their communities for as long as possible. Each year a Better care Fund Plan had been approved by the Board.

In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had indicated that policy and planning requirements for the Fund would not be published in 2020 and that spend from the ringfenced Fund should continue to be based on local agreement in 2020 to 2021, pending further guidance. This approach was confirmed in December 2020 with the publication of a policy statement by the government. The policy statement set out the following national conditions for the Fund in 2020-21:

a)     Plans covering all mandatory funding contributions have been agreed by Health & Wellbeing Board areas and minimum contributions are pooled in an agreement made under Section 75 of the NHS Act 2006;

b)     The contribution to social care from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) via the Fund is agreed and meets or exceeds the minimum expectation specified in the policy statement;

c)     Spend on CCG commissioned out of hospital services meets or exceeds the minimum ringfence set specified in the policy statement.

d)     CCGs and local authorities confirm compliance with the above conditions to their Health and Wellbeing Boards.

In accordance with condition d) above, the Board received a report which detailed how conditions a) to c) had been satisfied as follows.

a)    The Better Care Fund Partnership Board, including senior representatives from the Authority and the CCG, had continued to oversee the implementation of the Better Care Fund Plan and had updated the Section 75 Agreement to cover 2020-21;

b)    The minimum expectation required the CCG to contribute £11,096,836 to social care. This requirement had been met; and

c)    The minimum expectation required the CCG to contribute £4.950,544 on NHS-commissioned out of hospital services. The actual contribution was £5,575,182, hence this requirement had been met.

The policy statement confirmed that the Fund would continue in 2021/22 with the iBCF grant to be maintained at its current level (£2.077billion), the Disabled Facilities Grant to be worth £573 million and the CCG contribution would again increase by 5.3% in line with the NHS Long Term Plan settlement. The Policy Framework and Planning Requirements would be published in early 2021 and the Board would be asked to consider and approve a revised Better Care Fund Plan for 2021/22 in due course.

Resolved that the continued operation of the Better Care Fund in 2020/21, in compliance with the national conditions set out above, be noted.

To consider the Council’s and the Clinical Commissioning Group’s commissioning intentions for 2021/22.

This Board received a presentation setting out the Council’s and the Clinical Commissioning Group’s commissioning intentions for 2021/22. The Board was invited to consider whether it wished to form an opinion on whether the Council and the CCG had taken proper account of the Joint Health & Wellbeing Strategy in formulating their commissioning intentions 2021/22 and whether it wished to report this to the CCG and/or Council.

Members of the Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing Sub-Committee had been invited to join the meeting to receive the presentation and so avoid officers having to repeat the presentation at a separate meeting.

The presentation included an overview of the governance arrangements associated with the delivery of the Our North Tyneside Plan, the North Tyneside Place Based Transformation Plan and the Children and Young Peoples Plan. The Board were presented with details of the services to be commissioned in 2021/22 arranged around the themes of services for children and young people, working age adults, older people and the response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Healthwatch North Tyneside also provided an overview of the key themes and issues to emerge from the feedback it had received from residents and users.

Following the presentation Board members asked questions and made comments when the Board reflected on the whole system, strategic approach in North Tyneside to tackling poverty and inequalities in health. This involved a wide range of interventions including job creation, skills and training, education, decent homes etc.

The presentation had highlighted the quantity and diversity of services which had continued to be delivered throughout the pandemic and it was suggested that there ought to be recognition and thanks expressed in the Council’s newsletter for the work undertaken by all those who had contributed to maintaining  these services through such a challenging period.

Reference was made to the publication of the Government White Paper “Integration and Innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all” which set out the Government’s legislative proposals for a Health and Care Bill. It was suggested that following analysis and consideration of the White Paper, the Clinical Commissioning Group, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust and the Council submit a report to the Board setting out the implications for decision making within the local health and social care system.

Resolved that the North Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and North Tyneside Council’s commissioning intentions for 2021/22 be noted and no further action be taken.