Issue - meetings

16.1     The Board considered a report on East Sussex Health and Social Care Shared Delivery Plan (SDP) Integration Programme update introduced by Vicky Smith, Programme Director, East Sussex Health and Social Care Transformation. The report was in two parts. The first part provided an update on the eight priorities with further detailed information in appendix 1 of the report. Most work is currently on track, however there are some delays around improvements in hospital discharge where we are experiencing both increases in the numbers of patients and the complexity of their onward care needs. The second part of the report covered the actions to strengthen the role of the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB), including the strategy session held on 5 September 2024 on Strategic Stewardship. A draft summary of the session is contained in appendix 2 of the report.

16.2     Ashley Scarff, Director of Joint Commissioning and ICT Development (East Sussex), NHS Sussex commented that the progress on SDP deliverables was encouraging with the exception of hospital discharge. The strategy sessions provide an important forum to think about and discuss delivery in future years.

16.3     Mark Stainton, Director of Adult Social Care and Health commented that the progress made against the SDP priorities is not to be underestimated given the operational pressures all parts of the Health and Care System are experiencing. Good progress has been made against the priorities with the exception of hospital discharge. Delayed discharge is a multi-agency pan-Sussex issue and other Systems are experiencing similar challenges, although Sussex is one of the most challenged. The issue of discharges has been escalated to a senior level in all the organisations involved, who are working well together to tackle the problems. A report has been presented to the Integrated Care Board setting out the challenges and steps being taken by partners to improve performance in this area. There are four main areas of work:

·       Work to support safe patient flow through our system

·       Support for patients to remain active and avoid further deconditioning whilst they are in a hospital bed

·       Optimising the transfer of care hubs which coordinate the discharge of patients across the different pathways

·       Developing a needs-based demand and capacity model

16.4     The fourth area is probably the most important one for East Sussex. It would appear that we have reached a tipping point in terms of hospital discharge and the wider population. There is an 11% increase in the number of people over 90 years of age that are being supported and a 12% increase in the number of people over 80 years of age. Overall, there has been a 9% increase in the number of people supported by Adult Social Care, and this is heavily weighted towards those older age groups which drives a level of complexity that has not been seen in the County to date and provides the context for the challenges around discharge.

16.5     Mark Stainton added that he had found the strategy session enjoyable and that it had really  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16