Health chiefs urged not to break up successful Torbay partnership

Health chiefs in Torbay have been urged to think again before pulling the plug on a successful partnership with the bay’s council.

The two bodies work together to provide adult social care services, and only today the government’s watchdog the Care Quality Commission praised the partnership in an inspection report.
But Torbay Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) told cabinet members that the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust was ‘giving serious consideration’ to ending its partnership with the local authority, citing the cost of providing the service.
In a statement raised as an ‘urgent item’ before the cabinet meeting, Cllr Thomas said the bay’s current Integrated Care Organisation was a pioneering model which had attracted national attention and supported the NHS’ 10-Year Plan to shift activity from hospital settings into communities.
He said the trust had no current plans to consult local people over such a ‘substantial change’ and said while he could not force them to consult, councillors and local residents could lobby the trust directly.
The healthcare trust is expected to make a decision early in the New Year, and could inform the council by the end of March.
Cllr Thomas said he understood the financial pressures, but money from the health service had always been used to deliver adult social care as a way of reducing more costly admissions to hospital.
As a result of the integration, a number of wards in Torbay Hospital have been closed over the years.
He went on: “It is not the case that the council underfunding the delivery of adult social care. It has been independently verified that the money we pay as a council is fair.
“I genuinely believe that work can be done within the Integrated Care Organisation to bring down the costs while maintaining the benefits of integration for our residents.”
Cllr Thomas said he was in regular contact with trust chairman Chris Balch, who was a supporter of the integrated approach.
But, he added: “He needs financial support from within the NHS to allow the arrangements to continue.”