Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director Adult Services

The Assistant Director of Adult Services submitted a report (previously circulated) to outline how additional funding is being allocated on adult social care services in order to support the expectations that are applied to it.

It was reported that in October, 2018 the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced £240m of additional funding for Councils to alleviate winter pressures on the NHS.

Darlington Borough Council had been allocated £501,172 with spend expected to focus on reducing delayed transfers of care; helping to reduce extended lengths of stay in hospital; weekend discharge arrangements, so that patients are assessed and discharged earlier; and speeding up the process of assessing and agreeing what social care is need for patients in hospitals.

The submitted report detailed the schemes which had been allocated funding in Darlington; gave examples of activity which had been supported over the winter period; delayed transfer of care performance for December 2018; and outlined the governance arrangements to monitor the impact and performance benefits of the additional funding.

Members referred to the positive impact of the funding in particular on discharge from hospital at weekends and Bank Holidays; how some of the funding will be utilised for rapid response domiciliary care packages; and the number of delayed days which had improved to 44 days in December 2018 compared to 128 delayed days in December 2017.

It was also reported that for December 2018 Darlington, when compared to all Single Tier and County Councils in England was ranked five on the overall rate of delayed beds.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.