Councillors have agreed on proposals to develop a ‘person-centred’  integrated continued health care service across East Berkshire.

Plans will see the three East Berkshire unitary authorities and the East Berkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) come together to build the system.

This means the system will harness the “expertise” of the CCG and local authorities to deliver “seamless services” for residents with ongoing healthcare needs.

Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) will lead work to co-design the model, which is expected to see more than £32 million of care commissioned by East Berkshire CCG, and will be the unitary authority to pilot the system in 2019 and 2020.

Councillor Dale Birch, executive member for adult services, health and housing, said: “This is a very innovative way of doing what has been, to date, a very difficult of working, This is one of those great ideas that puts the patient at the front end and the heart of what we’re talking about.

“That’s the great opportunity that we have got here. In the past, it’s often been confusing for patients and residents when they’ve come out of the hospital and they’re not sure whether it’s the NHS that’s funding their care or the local authority.

“This will remove that doubt and remove that worry. This administration is absolutely committed to joining things up to make things easier for people at the front end. The benefits are going to be enormous.”

The scheme comes about after a report claimed the current continuing healthcare service for residents had led to inconsistencies in provisions, pathways and resources and “avoidable disputes”.

It is hoped the new service will help the authorities to avoid “unnecessary costs”.

The report claimed there is an ‘over-reliance’ on providers who are dependent on public sector health care, and the report highlighted the new system represented ‘an opportunity’ to ‘deliver alternative models of care’ whereby there is supposedly more choice, quality and value for money for the authorities and patients.

The News asked the council if this meant the authorities would look towards the private sector to procure care packages.

A council spokesperson said most of the care provided is currently through private and voluntary care providers, and one of the key aims of the proposal is to develop relationships with a wider range of providers.