Health Foundation’s response to the Public Accounts Committee's 'Planning for the Better Care Fund' report

The Public Accounts Committee has today (Thursday 26 February) published its report Planning for the Better Care Fund. The Better Care Fund (the Fund) was introduced as an opportunity to change local health and social care services by pooling resources to encourage closer joint working and innovation.

Edward Davies, Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation, says: 'The Public Accounts Committee’s report on the planning of the Better Care Fund is a clear example of the challenges involved in transforming how care is delivered.

'The use of targeted resources, like the Fund, require careful planning to be successful. The report demonstrates the importance of ensuring there is clear communication and understanding between national and local bodies on what the funding is trying to achieve and who is responsible and accountable. National bodies also need to effectively oversee how local plans are implemented and whether they are achieving the type of change intended.

'The Committee is right to say that agencies across health and social care need to "rise to the challenge as failure, particularly for older and disabled people, is not an option". The Health Foundation supports the principle of the Better Care Fund but these findings demonstrate the difficulty of trying to transform care without earmarking the resources needed to successfully support change. This is why we are calling on politicians to invest in the creation of a transformation fund, in addition to existing money. This will help to finance the implementation of new models of care required to achieve an NHS that is better suited to the needs of our ageing population. In partnership with the King’s Fund, we are working to explore the amount needed but, also crucially how this fund could be effectively used to ensure it delivers the kind of transformation our NHS desperately needs.'

Media contact

Lewis Pickett
T: 020 7257 8017
E: lewis.pickett@health.org.uk