Meeting documents

To receive the presentation and discuss (presentation to follow)

The Board considered and commented on the information and presentation.

The Chief Executive of the NHS Somerset CCG made the presentation.  He first thanked everyone who had spoken on Open Mental Health and their integrated care system and emphasised that Somerset ICS is all about everyone being in it together.

He then discussed the key functions of the proposed ICB (Integrated Care Board), noting on Slide 4 that the ICS will need such a board to focus on the health needs of the population, allocating resources to deliver the plan, establishing governance arrangements, etc.  On Slide 6, there is a discussion of key functions of the ICP; it was noted that both the Health and Wellbeing Board and the ICS need to bring together health and care to support the population.  The ICP board will bring together partners to deliver the actions required through joint working.  The composition of the ICP is discussed on Slide 7; there will be input from Directors of Public Health through arrangements agreed by local authorities and the area ICS, clinical and professional experts, representatives of adult and children’s social services, and representation from health and care services, the VCSE sector, and Healthwatch, as well as volunteer organisations.  They are setting up the ICP Board to be operative in April 2022, with the Health and Wellbeing Board and the ICS working together across health and care services covering 13,000-14,000 persons.  The board’s overriding vision is to keep the population well.

SCC’s Director of Adult Social Care then discussed how the ICS is working together regarding Intermediate Care, which manages the flow of persons into and out of hospitals.  It attempts to keep people out of hospitals in the first place, but once they are hospitalised, it facilitates their discharge.  It involves health and social care working with providers to get people back home and give them support, including social workers, OTs, and other who will go to a person’s home and work with them there to achieve desired outcomes.  For those person remaining in hospital or care, intermediate care attempts to find beds in different facilities where these persons can be helped.  This is a team effort that has received national recognition, but they don’t have enough people delivering care presently, so they hope that many will come forward to work in the care system.  The Chief Executive-Somerset CCG added that the aim is to find the way to help people live well in their own homes and communities.

The Strategy Specialist for Housing and Communities at Somerset West and Taunton Council then spoke about homelessness and Leading for System Change in Somerset, noting that Somerset is one of 7 local areas working with the NHS Leadership Academy to provide integrated services via the VCSE.  There are 40 members and a range of partners involved, including Adults and Children Social Care, the CCG, the NHS, Public Health, the Somerset Foundation Trust, district councils, hospitals care providers, and GPs.  There are two main topics involved:  The first is place-based approaches, both rural and urban, which seek to effectively support local communities.  This approach is very much tied to the coming unitary council.  The second main topic is homelessness and the importance of providing care and housing, including dealing with complex homelessness/rough sleeping.  They attempt to accomplish this through commissioning and early help, and he pointed out that the majority of the homeless have had childhood trauma, requiring the necessity to work with providers in stopping such trauma.  To achieve this, they work closely with the Homelessness Reduction Board, as well as other boards.  The next steps will entail the ICS engaging in New Ways of Working, which is a long process for which the national guidance has just been published.  The good news is that Somerset’s services are already joined up and working well, through a very large number of great providers.  The legislation for New Ways of Working should go through Parliament in April of 2022.

There were no questions from the Committee; the Chair thanked the presenters for presenting their topics so well using good examples.

The Somerset Health and Wellbeing Board received and discussed the presentation.