Built a robust evidence base on CHC funding inequities, process inconsistencies, and their drivers
Secured system-wide commitment to collaborative, person-centred working by shifting health and social care partners’ mindsets away from transactional decision-making
Created a transformation programme to reset CHC processes across the ICB, focused on standardising protocols, improving workforce capability, and building shared data systems
TN was commissioned by a local council to conduct a detailed diagnostic regarding Continuing Health Care (CHC) funding for adults, and Continuing Care funding for Children and Young People. CHC and Continuing Care are respective packages of care for individuals with complex primary care needs that cannot be met by existing services and are arranged and funded by the NHS to cover both health and social care costs.
The deliverables of the programme were to:
- Understand how health and social providers’ expenditure and activity changed over time
- Benchmark spend and access to CHC funding against other providers
- Map the current process for allocating health funding, and highlight variation from other system partners’ processes
- Develop recommendations for the local system to improve accessibility to the right funding, at the right time for residents
- Building one version of the truth using data: Analysed and triangulated over 15 data sources to understand how referrals, and referral eligibility conversion rates for CHC funding varied over time and across providers, both within the ICB and nationally
- Distilling insights from operational immersion: Engaged with over 30 social and health colleagues, both at the council and ICB-level, to identify challenges and opportunities regarding processes and ways of working
- Aligning stakeholders across the health system: Held a large multi-agency workshop with 30+ social, health and voluntary sector colleagues to play back findings from operational immersion and generate consensus on initiatives to pursue to improve funding allocation, such as:
- Developing a shared dataset on jointly funded care packages for health, social and education to provide system oversight of the total costs and splits
- Engaging in independently led system-wide ‘refresher’ training on local processes, with example case studies, to upskill and empower the workforce and clarify system roles and responsibilities
- Agreeing standardised funding protocols and robust processes, utilising national frameworks and best practice, to increase the consistency of funding outcomes across the system
