Purpose

The NHS Sussex Integrated Care
System (ICS) is a partnership that brings together NHS
organisations and local authorities, including West Sussex County
Council (WSCC), to plan services across geographical areas. The
County Council, working together with the Integrated Care Board
(ICB) and as part of the ICS has developed a plan for the
commissioning of hospital discharge care.
 
This plan aims to ensure there
is a sufficient level of service provision available to facilitate
time-efficient discharges from hospital for individuals across all
areas of the county, aiming for as many as possible to return to
their own homes. This plan is intending to be on a medium-term
basis, with any services commissioned under it being in place until
31 March 2024 with the ability to extend until 31 March 2025 and
will be flexible in nature to respond to changes in demand. Any
commissioning under the plan will adhere to the relevant Council
policies and will be prioritised by starting with those deemed
likely to deliver services to the highest number of individuals and
will be supplementary to the existing discharge contract
arrangements. The proposals included in this report will result in
the Council commissioning various services which will be funded in
full by the ICB.

Decision

The Director of Adults and Health has
approved:
 

(1)The procurement of
an additional 4 block Hospital Discharge Care (HDC) contracts,
providing an increase of 575 block hours per week for an estimated
£300k from December 2023 until March 2024 with potential to
extend until March 2025, and to activate a fifth contract from
April 2024 until March 2025 (subject to additional funding and
demand).
 

(2)The staged
procurement of up to an additional 84 block contracted care and
nursing home beds from December 2023 to March 2024, for an
estimated cost of £1.2m, with the option to extend until
March 2025 (subject to additional funding and demand).
 

(3)The procurement of 9
domiciliary care rounds at an estimated cost of £320k from
December 2023 until March 2024 with the ability to extend up to
March 2025 (subject to additional funding and demand).
 

(4)The variation of the
section 75 agreement between the Council and the ICB to include the
Council reclaiming the funding of these services from the NHS.