End of health partnership would be ‘devastating’

A pioneering partnership that delivers care for elderly and disabled people is at risk due to an annual overspend of about £35m.

The integrated care deal between Torbay Council and the local health trust has been in place for more than 20 years and has been credited with success in freeing up hospital beds.

The Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSDFT) says it is “reviewing the future of our long-standing partnership” with Torbay Council to ensure “services remain safe, high-quality and financially sustainable”.

Susie Colley, a former nurse who campaigns for health services in Torbay, said the impact of losing the partnership on social care would be “devastating”.

A recent Care Quality Commission inspection rated the service as “good” and praised the arrangements in place to “prevent, delay, or reduce care needs” and a “strong focus on hospital discharge and recovery at home”.

More than 27% of the population in Torbay is over-65, compared to the national average of about 19%, according to the Care Quality Commission.

Ms Colley said: “We’ve got an awful lot of elderly people down here and it would have a huge impact of the whole wellbeing of the bay.

“Don’t chuck the baby out with the bathwater. It’s absolutely essential that we keep this service and you don’t get into financial difficulty overnight – somebody needs to sit down with an abacus and sort it out.”

While the NHS provides hospital services, it is up to local councils to provide other care for elderly and disabled people – in Torbay the council spends about £66m a year on these services.

Dave Thomas, the Conservative leader of Torbay Council, says the partnership has been a success and wants to find ways of “managing change” to keep it going in the future.

He said: “I fear the impact on our residents would be so detrimental.

“We have to come up with a way to get us through to the other side.”

The Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay, Steve Darling, said the health trust had mismanaged its budgets.

He said: “They have failed to manage the service appropriately – they’ve over-medicalised people which results in higher costs.

“After blowing the budget they’re now looking to give it back to the council, which I think is outrageous.”

The chief executive of TSDFT strongly refutes the suggestion that finances have been mismanaged.

He said: “Demand has really increased significantly so the cost over three years has gone up by 36% and so that’s really unsustainable in terms of NHS budgets and the funding we receive every year.

“What we’ll need to do is make some difficult choices as we look forward about what we’re able to invest NHS money in.”

The government is currently carrying out a review, led by Baroness Louise Casey, into how it should reform adult social care across the country and Torbay Council’s leader said Baroness Casey had visited the area to see how the partnership worked.

Camille Oung, a fellow at the Nuffield Foundation and expert in adult social care, said: “Realistically the government is going to face some difficult choices – social care is a vital service, as much as the NHS, and if those services are going to be working together they need to be properly funded.”

A final decision on what will happen to the future of the partnership is expected to be made at a TSDFT board meeting in March.