Councils and NHS commissioners have moved an extra £1.5 billion into the Better Care Fund, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has reported.
The Better Care Fund (BCF) is a pooled budget that shifts resources into social care and community services for the benefit of the NHS and local government.
Originally set at £3.8 billion, the pooled budget’s value has now increased to £5.3billion due to the transfer of extra Council and NHS funding.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:
“Local authorities and local NHS commissioners have joined together and painstakingly planned commissioning for adult health and social care with pooled budgets.
“Budgets from the local authority side are for the first time helping to reduce emergency hospital admissions and budgets from the NHS are for the first time helping to reduce permanent admissions to care homes.”
The Health Secretary added that 97% of the 151 local Better Care Fund plans had now been approved by the government. He said the plans should led to 163,000 fewer hospital stays and 100,000 fewer unnecessary days spent in hospital by patients due to delayed discharges.
For further information see http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2014/10/30/councils-nhs-budget-shift-brings-better-care-fund-total-5-8bn/