The National Care Forum has won a small commission to provide senior social care sector leadership support, expertise and specialist advice on discharge, rehabilitation and Intermediate Care to the NHSE director leading the Intermediate Care Programme. This work will be led by one of our experienced NCF consultants, Tracy Paine MBE, with support from the NCF , including our CEO, our Policy Director and the wider NCF Policy Team.
Tracy is an experienced Executive and Non-Executive Director with strong track record in the ‘not for profit’ and charity sector providing nursing and social care and well-being services for older people. A registered nurse professional (until March 2022) with a Masters in Business Management and Gerontology, she was the former Deputy CEO of Belong, a dementia specialist care organization and is now Chair of the Board of Trustees for the End of Life Partnership (EOLP). Belong offer high quality dementia & nursing care, independent living apartments and a Belong at Home care service for older people across their villages. At Belong, she developed a very successful Intermediate Care service, where clients were referred from hospital for early discharge or directly from home to prevent hospital admission. She also has direct experience of providing ‘Discharge to Assess’ beds during COVID in 2021. She brings a robust knowledge of intermediate care models, sector innovation, commissioning and contracting practices.
This is radical new way of seeking to bring direct senior level social care expertise into the senior levels of the NHS – it aims to influence and shape the development of the Intermediate Care programme, bringing the perspective and direct experience of the social care sector into improving the way that hospital discharge and rehabilitation works for people, providers and commissioners. This is not intended in any way to reduce the engagement of other CPA colleagues and other stakeholders, or indeed replace existing places at the table, but rather is an addition and hopefully a valuable way to connect up thinking.
This work sits alongside the involvement of other sector leaders on the development of the commissioning framework for the intermediate care programme and, as well as being a direct advisor to the NHSE Director, Tracy will be working to achieve care provider participation and expertise in the pilot sites that are working on creating, testing & evaluating a new model of community recovery services post discharge.
We are seeking the support of our colleagues across the social care provider landscape to be part of this work, to engage with us and to help us build a coalition of expertise and inclusion to shape the essential work that the intermediate Care programme is trying to deliver. Tracy will of course have access to the wider NCF network of expertise, but we are hoping that care & support provider colleagues across the Care Provider Alliance and beyond will work collaboratively with us to bring that wide range of expertise to make this work as strong as it can be. There is an equivalent specialist advisor role being delivered by ADASS) to bring the LA & DASS perspective as well as the LA commissioning perspective, Tracy and Jenny will have regular touch point meetings .
Tracy says: I’m looking forward to working with colleagues throughout the sector and engaging effectively to provide valuable insights that will influence and shape this programme for the benefit of individuals and communities. There is huge expertise across the care & support provider sector and this programme needs to benefit from that.
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