5. Implementation 2016 17

The implementation of local Better Care Fund plans will formally begin from 1 April 2016. As part of its wider planning process, NHS England will require local areas to produce a multi-year strategic plan, showing how local services will get from where they are now to where the Five Year Forward View requires them to be by 2020. This will set out the actions and specific deliverables that NHS England will take forward to deliver the objectives set out in the multi-year mandate to NHS England – including those relating to the integration of health and social care and the continuation of the Better Care Fund.

In implementing the Better Care Fund in 2016-17, NHS England will continue to:

Provide support to local areas to ensure effective implementation of agreed plans;

Work with partners to identify and remove barriers to service integration;

Promote and communicate the benefits of health and social care integration;

Monitor the ongoing success of the Better Care Fund – including delivery against key national performance metrics;

Prepare as necessary for the continuation of the Better Care Fund over the next Parliament.