• National funding released to drive transformation of local services
• Summary plans for new and innovative care and support options published

Local plans to transform care for people with a learning disability and/or autism across the NHS England South region, have been published today backed by millions of pounds in national funding announced by health and care leaders.

The announcement marks the first major stage in delivering the reforms set out in Building the Right Support: A national plan to support individuals’ lead more independent lives and have greater say about the support they receive to radically improve learning disability services.

The first awards from a £30m, three-year NHS England revenue fund to help Transforming Care Partnerships (TCPs) speed up the delivery of new services – announced at the same time as Building the Right Support – have now been finalised.

Of the 48 national partnerships, 14 are within the NHS England south region, three of which have been designated funding on a match-funding basis – getting over 1 million pounds. This funding will support the development of existing services and joint work, focussing on bringing patients who have been placed in inpatient care outside of the region back to their own communities, with the right support in place to meet their needs.

Specific service development being backed in the south for 2016/17 includes:

• Kent and Medway – awarded £278,000 to develop a community service which will support people with complex, challenging behaviours.
• Dorset – awarded £180,000 to fund its local plan, which focuses on bringing people back to Dorset from specialist hospitals through developing services to meet individual’s needs. Dorset plans to prevent and / or reduce future hospital admissions through improving community-based services.*
• Devon – awarded £90,000 to set up a specific service to support people with autism which will complement existing services.

In the south, good progress has already been made reducing the numbers of inpatient beds for people with learning disabilities. As a region it has the lowest per capita admission rate in the country, with around 450 inpatient beds commissioned for those with a learning disability or autism.

Since April 2014, around 270 people with learning disabilities have been discharged from inpatient hospital care either back home or to other community care, achieved by working with patients and families and providing the right community services.

In addition to this national funding, NHS England South has already identified over £8m of capital investment to support CCGs across the region in redeveloping or building new facilities and accommodation to improve the availability of community-based care for those with learning disabilities.

The focus in the south is on ensuring there is the right mix of services providing excellent care, including preventing admission to hospital in the first place, by providing more care in the community and at home, enabling the safe and timely discharge of those receiving inpatient care and for those who do need inpatient care, the aim is to increase availability close to home wherever possible.

Summaries of the TCP plans setting out how they intend to enable people with a learning disability to lead more independent lives and have greater say about the support they receive, have been published, and are available on the NHS England website.

The provision of Care and Treatment Reviews (CTRs) is a vital part of the Transforming Care Programme of work. These assessments are undertaken by a clinician but also involve the patient, their family or advocates, to ensure the right care package is in place for each individual.

Since November 2014 around 370 CTRs have been carried out across the south –helping to prevent unnecessary admission in the first place and get people home earlier from hospital with the right supportive care in place.

Jill Crook, NHS England’s South Transforming Care Programme Lead said: “The launch of these plans demonstrates the hard work and dedication local NHS organisations and councils have put into transforming care for people with a learning disability and/or autism.

“This funding will help accelerate the great work already going on in the south. We already have the lowest hospital admission rate in the country and we have some excellent initiatives underway across the region providing independent living, supportive intervention and ongoing assessment.

“The local plans are ambitious and rightly so because whilst we still need inpatient facilities to provide safe care close to home for some, these plans demonstrate a commitment to community-based care for those with learning disabilities, giving them and their families a far greater say in the care they receive, close to their friends and families.