Summary for VCSE Health Alliance
The Board began with residents’ stories of post-discharge onward care by Buckinghamshire Health Care in a service run by Sodexo which includes use of technology to monitor behavioural changes in the home.
Resident Jack said: “the best thing with being home is just being home” and explained that the monitoring gives him the confidence.
The Board had questions about the evidence base was for this compared to other approaches and how to scale up this approach from its ‘proof of concept’ stage. Rachael Corser noted that though Sodexo is a private company, part of this service relies on volunteers.
Nick Broughton commented: “This does highlight the key role that our VCSE sector can play and indeed does play. The fact that 400 charities locally can contribute to support people like Jack is a fantastic resource.”
The ICB’s Chair Sim Scavazza and CEO Nick Broughton pursue they will be present to each NHS trust board in BOB ICS. There is a system leadership forum coming up, at which the VCSE Health Alliance will represented by its Chair, and a gathering of all the NHS trust non-exec directors in BOB ICS.
The Chair and CEO are also speaking to county and unitary district councillors on the BOB-wide joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (held 24 January). On, it was confirmed that Javed Khan OBE has stepped down permanently and Sim Scavazza will continue as Acting Chair.
There is an ‘ICS’ place focus at each Board meeting and it was the turn of Buckinghamshire with the ICB’s Executive Director for Bucks Philippa Baker. She describes the Executive Place Board which is comprised of members representing the Council, the ICB, the NHS Trust and Primary Care.
Philippa Baker’s paper sets out ways in which the public sector organisations are working together and highlights the Opportunity Bucks initiative around the 20% most deprived wards within the county. Asked why the VCSE sector is not represented on the Place Board, the Place Director responds that they are working closely with VCSE leaders in other ways and forums.
The ICB and wider NHS bodies in BOB together are projecting a deficit of around £45m at year-end on a turnover of £3.3bn, which is in line with (or even more favorable than) performance of other ICBs in the South East of England. Two of the factors driving the ICB’s share of that deficit are inflation and supply issues in prescription drug costs and higher demand and inflation within continuing health care.
System partners had set out big picture strategic goals for BOB ICS in the Integrated Care Priorities and NHS Joint Forward Plan in the first half of 2023. The ICB has a set of six BOB system goals for 2024/25 which the Health Alliance supports.
Rachael Shimmin, local authority partner member said:
“The system goals feel about right to me […] I’m not clear when I read these system goals … how we’re going to find the money to invest in the priorities and therefore crucially what we’re going to stop doing, what we’re going to do less of and what we’re going to do differently.”
Steve McManus, CEO of Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust said:
“I think it’s really worth us collectively thinking about this over two years particularly for the ICB in terms of how it uses the commissioning lever to engineer the direction we’ve set out here.”
Nick Broughton, ICB CEO said:
“There is still sceptism in some quarters about the benefits of system working. […] This will require shifting resources from the acute sector into the community. This has to be done carefully […] but it’s also clear for this system to be sustainable […] we now need to move into a transformational mindset.”
Health Alliance Chair William Butler said:
“I believe that the BOB 24/25 system goals reflect strong and sustained Alliance membership contributions, particularly around mental health, neurodiversity and on the critical importance of supporting and retaining an integrated and diverse workforce. Achieving these goals will require both shared resources and a demonstration that genuinely integrated services can deliver real results for all of our communities.”
Papers
The papers of this meeting are available at: https://www.bucksoxonberksw.icb.nhs.uk/about-us/board-meetings/board-papers/
Recording
The video recording can be accessed at: https://buckinghamshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/778099.
Dates
The next ICB Board Meeting is on 19 March 2024 and will be live-streamed: https://www.bucksoxonberksw.icb.nhs.uk/about-us/board-meetings/
The Alliance steering group looks forward to a discussion with Hannah Iqbal, Chief Strategy & Partnership Officer, in March, and the different action groups look forward to advancing on the system goals.
