Community care is working for NHS insist health chiefs
Report says system is not working
COUNTY leaders are refuting claims plans to treat more patients in the community are failing to ease pressure on hospitals.
The denial comes following a National Audit Office (NAO) report which said the £5.3 billion Better Care Together Fund wasn’t saving money or producing the expected reduction in acute care workload.
The Government introduced the fund to allow local authorities to invest in services to keep patients out of hospital.
For Hinckley and Bosworth residents the fund is managed by Leicestershire County Council and NHS provider and planning body West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group.
The pooled budget amounts to more than £39 million.
New initiatives have included First Contact Plus - a web-based referral system for a range of well- being support, Lightbulb - joinedup support across housing, health and social care, to keep people safe, well and independent at home, a more consistent approach to falls prevention and treatment and housing expertise provided direct to patients being discharged, reducing delayed transfers of care.
According to the NAO it was hoped nationally the fund would return a saving of around £500 million in its first year by reducing demand for costly hospital care.
Using the fund councils and NHS commissioners estimated they could cut emergency hospital admissions by 106,000 - instead these went up by 87,000.
The expected drop in delayed transfers of care - or bed-blocking - of 293,000 went out of the window too with an actual increase of 185,000.
On a local level attendances to the emergency department at Leicester Royal Infirmary are up 7% on last year, with an average of 655 patients seen a day, however, an innovative triage scheme using a GP to assess new arrivals appears to be working.
Hospital trust reports say the new unit is reducing actual acute admissions by around 20 a day. This, they say, along with the extra support in the community is beginning to make a difference.
Councillor Ernie White, county council cabinet member for health and chairman of the health and well-being board, said: “Our latest information, for the period between April and December 2016, shows that Better Care Fund services in Leicestershire avoided a total of 2,040 emergency admissions to Leicester’s hospitals.
“That means more than 2,000 people were supported to receive care in the community who otherwise would have occupied a hospital bed. This includes a significant reduction in the number of people admitted to hospital as a result of suffering a fall over the last 18 months.”