Agenda item

26.1     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 provides a summary of progress against the eight priorities contained within the SDP and a report back from the ‘deep dive’ strategy session held on the 14 November 2024. There has been progress on hospital discharge for those who are medically fit to leave hospital, with this priority shown as amber. Partners will maintain a high level of focus on this area as we head into the winter period.

26.2     Vicky Smith added that a summary of the outcomes from the informal strategy session on ‘Improving Life Expectancy’ are contained in the briefing in appendix 2 of the report, and if approved by the Board, will be taken forward with partners.

26.3     Mark Stainton outlined that the report recognises the ongoing challenges regarding hospital discharge in East Sussex and in Sussex as a whole. There has been a sustained 10% reduction in the number of people in hospital who are medically fit for discharge (i.e. who no longer meet the criteria to reside in hospital). Across the Sussex Health and Care system, there are four main workstreams on hospital discharge which are:

• The SAFER patient flow bundle;
• Early mobilisation to keep people well whilst they are in hospital;
• The establishment of transfer of care hubs; and
• Needs based capacity and demand modelling – given the demography and high proportion of elderly and frail people with needs that are more complex and therefore the response needs to be more complex.

26.4     The NHS Sussex Winter Plan is also responding to this and is using live data. Some of the interventions include the use of virtual wards, emergency community response teams, and an increase in the use of discharge to assess (D2A) bed capacity.

26.5     Mark Stainton also commented that he thought the deep dive sessions had a lot of energy and good ideas. If possible, it would be good to use some of the suggested outcomes as part of the year three refresh of the Shared Delivery Plan actions, rather than waiting for the Health and Wellbeing Strategy to be updated.

26.6     Councillor Ballard commented that the deep dive sessions were really excellent and could be extended further to talk about joint commissioning arrangements and opportunities for collaborative working. This was something suggested in a Local Government Association training session she attended recently on Health and Wellbeing Boards.

26.7     The Chair asked if the Board has the opportunity to stress the ageing population demographics more widely and the impact this is having on the local health and care system.

26.8     Stephen Lightfoot commented that the deep dive session was excellent and builds on some already good teamwork. He added that he would support working on the actions from the deep dive sessions sooner. In terms of whether we are making enough of the ageing population in East Sussex as part of the SDP, he would support engaging with local MPs and NHS England on this point. Partners are coming together as a system to work on the issue of delayed discharge from hospitals, and this issue will only be solved by working together. It is clear that we have not found a complete solution yet, but progress is being made and we are on track to reduce the numbers who are medically fit to leave hospital by a third by March 2025. The four main viruses (seasonal flu, Covid, RSV and Norovirus) circulating over the winter are also likely to put a strain on the system.

26.9     Vicky Smith thanked the Board for their encouraging comments and to explore collaborative work as part of the strategy sessions. She outlined that there may be opportunities through the consultation on the NHS National Plan and the work of the Health and Care Select Committee which is looking at the cost of delays of social care reform, to highlight the implications of the ageing population for adult social care and the health system.

26.10   The Board RESOLVED to:

1. Note the progress highlights against the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) Shared Delivery Plan (SDP) objectives for East Sussex in 2024/25 as set out in Appendix 1, and the positive whole system collaborative action taking place to improve hospital discharge;

2. Note the outcomes from the second informal HWB deep dive session as set out in the summary briefing note contained in Appendix 2, and;

3. Agree the key messages and suggested actions in the briefing note, for sharing more widely with organisations and partners.