Intended for healthcare professionals

News

Senior NHS leader urges caution on predicting big savings from Better Care Fund

BMJ 2014; 349 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g6595 (Published 03 November 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g6595
  1. Gareth Iacobucci
  1. 1The BMJ

The NHS in England and local councils have committed an additional £1.5bn (€1.9bn; $2.4bn) funding in pooled budgets to the government’s Better Care Fund to boost efforts to provide integrated health and social care in the community. The fund, due to launch in April 2015, will be increased from £3.8bn to £5.3 billion as a result of the increased investment.

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said that the move would improve care and potentially save more than £500m through reductions in emergency admissions and other measures. But a senior NHS leader warned that the evidence that the plan could deliver financial savings at such a scale was inconclusive.

In a …

View Full Text

Log in

Log in through your institution

Subscribe

* For online subscription