Chair's statement: Planning for the Better Care Fund

The integration of health and social care is fundamental to delivering more efficient and effective NHS and social care services to meet the growing needs of our population.

So I am dismayed that planning for the Better Care Fund has been such a shambles.

The Fund will not now deliver the £1 billion savings originally expected – savings which local areas were not initially told they should collectively deliver. Indeed NHS England found that initial plans would save the NHS just £55 million, just 5% of what was expected. Now local area plans forecast £314 million of savings for the NHS, which is less than one-third of that originally expected.

Successful delivery depends on goodwill and joint commitment but delays and changes to the Fund’s design have weakened its credibility with local bodies and lost goodwill. It is deeply disturbing that local government believes the changes to targets and how the Fund will be run move the integration agenda backward and not forward.

Furthermore the assumption that local areas can achieve a reduction in emergency admissions of 3.1% is a triumph of hope over reality.

The Better Care Fund is a complex and challenging initiative that clearly requires strong leadership and effective cross government working, both of which have been lacking. It is hard to believe that until recently there was no central management team or programme director and there were only limited attempts to identify and manage risks to successful delivery.

Such incompetence from Departments is unacceptable at a time when the number of people most likely to need care is rising, and overall funding is falling. We will robustly question officials on plans for the Fund when they appear before us in December.

Further information

National Audit Office report: Planning for the Better Care Fund