Joint Working Grants / Increased Flexibilities

Background

We would all like services that protect us and improve our health and well-being.
 
To do this arrangements have been put together to allow health and local authorities to work closely together. 

This can be done by either joining up existing services, or developing new services and working with other organisations to make sure that there is an effective response.

The Health Act 1999 introduced arrangements (Increased Flexibilities) to make closer partnership working possible. 
The Increased Flexibilities allow organisations to focus their attention on the needs of their clients by taking away some of the worries over organisational limits

Increased Flexibilities encourage joint working between health and local government and also allows partners to ‘Pool Funds’ and hand over roles and responsibilities through ‘Lead Commissioning’ and ‘Integrated Provision’.

The Joint Working Grant

The Welsh Assembly Government designed the Joint Working Grant to provide support to local authorities when setting up partnerships with health. 

The Joint Working Grant 2006-08 may be used to develop joint services for client groups including:

• elderly people

• children

• carers

• people with mental health problems including challenging behaviour

• people with learning disabilities

• people with physical/sensory disabilities

It is hoped that improvements in operational arrangements will allow new ways of thinking about the way services are provided which should improve services for clients and improve local health and well-being.

Who is involved?

Increased Flexibilities can be used with any ‘health related’ service that the local authority provides. 

Within a local authority, this usually means social services but partnership can also include:

• Housing Services

• Education

• Transport

• Leisure, recreation, and library services

• Community and many acute services

• Environmental health and so on

Other Participants might include:

• NHS partners

• Voluntary Sector partners

• Existing planning groups

• Local Action Teams

• Local Wanless Action Plans

• Health & Well-being Strategies

• Supporting People Planning Groups

• Representatives from the independent sector

• User groups, their representatives and carers

Use of Joint Working Grant Funding within Denbighshire (2006/08)

The total grant allocation for 2006/08 is £22.1 million over 2 financial years, of which:

• £4.4 million is to support local authority membership of Local Health Boards, including the development of Health, Social Care & Well-being Strategies. 

This has been distributed evenly across all 22 authorities in Wales (£100,000 each).

• £17.7 million is to support the uptake of flexibilities systems.

Denbighshire have successfully bid for a £399,161 grant in 2006/07 and £399,161 in 2007/08.  Funding is being used across a range of services, and a range of client groups, which meet local priorities.  Within Denbighshire this includes:

• Intermediate Care

• Children with Disabilities Register (Barnardos)

• Telecare in Partnership

• Community Equipment Service Integration (CESI)

• Disabilities Project Worker (Children & Adults)

• Health & Social Care Assistant Practitioner Partnership

• Speech & Language Therapy Services (SALT)

• DEMIST

It is possible that all supported projects will become part of the everyday services provided by the partner organisations.

For further information contact:

Diane Hesketh
HSCWB Partnership Manager
Denbighshire County Council
Health, Social Care & Well-being Unit
64 Brighton Road
Rhyl
Denbighshire
LL18 3HP

Telephone:  01824 708372

Email: diane.hesketh@denbighshire.gov.uk