To receive a verbal update provided by Derek Blackford, Locality Director (South and West), NHS Devon.

The Board noted a verbal update provided by Justin Wiggins, Head of Integrated Care (South and West), NHS Devon who advised that the South Local Care Partnership (LCP) continued to develop its programme delivery structure to progress implementation of the Joint Forward Plan.  A governance structure had started to emerge with core groups and sub-groups in development around delivery, engagement and emerging issues.

Members were informed that the current delivery and pace of the LCP development was in the context of urgent and emergency care (UEC), winter pressures and system financial pressures.  The South Unscheduled Programme Board was focussing on a range of priorities to alleviate UEC pressures, for example, high intensity users of Emergency Departments, discharge delays, admission avoidance, coordination of care, falls and frailty, urgent community response and end of life.  Population Health remained a key focus working with Public Health to:

·         build on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and One Devon Data Set to better understand the south population to support the identification of priorities;

·         launch and fund organisations to focus on population health and prevention needs;

·         develop support for individuals waiting for surgery who were most impacted by health inequalities and wider determinants.

The Board was informed that the South LCP had focussed on:

·         the Better Care Fund

o   details for planning submission for 2024/25 financial year were awaited with an expectation of having to refresh current demand and capacity plans for people being discharged from acute settings to ensure the right support was available in the community from residential care, recovery and rehab placements;

o   strong partnership work continued.

·         Population Health and Prevention

o   led by Public Health, a new South Devon profile was being created which built on key information from JSNA and utilised key intelligence from the Community and Voluntary Sector and primary care which would help to identify key health inequalities, which priority areas to focus upon together and for organisations to respond to identified challenges;

·         Community Services Review

o   work was being scoped to undertake the review with links to the primary and community section of the Joint Forward Plan, particularly focussed on integrated working;

o   in the context of the Better Care Fund across Devon ICS, work was being undertaken to better understand the use of community hospitals which would assist in the consideration of how to best secure rehab beds in the South from a range of providers including community hospitals and residential/community providers;

o   the Devon Unscheduled Care Board had requested a rapid review of NHS funded Adult Community Services focussing on current UEC intermediate care services for adults; equity of provision and outcomes; opportunities for improvement and efficiency; and opportunities to improve planning and coordination;

o   linking in with a Devon ICB review of community services, the LCP would be looking across the South to explore what further developments could be made and whether there was a need for a revised model and seeking to develop a new care model.

·         Engagement workstream

o   Focus on engagement and how the voice of the community is heard and being part of strategic decisions.

Members were also informed that the contracts for the Operation Health Fund had gone live.  Various projects were underway, for example, supporting people’s mental health, fuel poverty programmes and respiratory clinics.  The programmes were part way through mid-delivery reviews and an update on those schemes would be available for the next Board meeting.