The Sutton Health and Wellbeing Board met to discuss the Better Care Fund plan, the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, and the Sutton Health and Care plan. The board approved the Better Care Fund 2025-26 planning template, and noted both the BCF quarter one submission to NHS England, and the delivery updates on the Sutton Alliance for Supporting Home Programme. The board also approved and signed off the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2025-28 for publication, and noted the contribution of community pharmacy to the Sutton Health and Care system.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

The board approved and signed off the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2025-28 for publication. The PNA is a statutory assessment produced every three years, which describes the provision of NHS pharmacy services in Sutton and whether they meet the needs of the local population. It is used by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) when considering applications to open new pharmacies or relocate existing ones.

Claire Riddell, from Public Health, explained that the PNA looks at access and adequacy of pharmacy services, not quality or satisfaction. The assessment found that Sutton has 39 community pharmacies, which is slightly above the national average. Access to pharmacies is good across the borough, with 99% of residents with access to a car able to reach a pharmacy within 20 minutes. Uptake of key advanced services is also good, particularly Pharmacy First¹ and the New Medicine Service². The assessment concluded that pharmacy provision in Sutton is well distributed, accessible and sufficient to meet population needs for the next three years, and that no current or future gaps in provision were identified.

Rina Burai, owner of SGBRI Pharmacy, spoke about how community pharmacy is developing and how it supports the wider health and care community. She described community pharmacies as neighbourhood health centres , and highlighted the range of services they offer, including:

• Discharge Medicine Service, which supports patients who have been discharged from hospital
• Free prescription delivery services for housebound patients
• Blister pack medication to help people take their medicines correctly
• Identifying patients with hypertension through blood pressure checks
• Running clinics for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and HRT reviews
• Weight management services
• Group consultations for stopping smoking
• Vaccinations

Councillor Jane Pascoe, Vice Chair of Sutton South, Cheam and Belmont Local Committee, raised the issue of patients waiting in hospital for discharge prescriptions. Rina Burai responded that Scotland is trialling an electronic prescription method to send prescriptions from the hospital to a community pharmacy, which allows patients to get out of bed much quicker.

Several board members praised Rina Burai's presentation and highlighted the need to take pharmacy seriously as part of the health system. Michelle Rahman, Director of Transformation, Sutton Place, SWL ICS, suggested that the Alliance Board should consider how to get a voice of pharmacy when discussing who is the best provider to deliver services for local residents.

Sutton Alliance Hospital to Home Programme Delivering the Better Care Fund Plan

The board received an update on the Sutton Alliance Hospital to Home Programme, which aims to help people remain independent at home and to get them back home quickly and safely if hospital treatment is needed.

Nick Ireland, Strategic Director of People Services, explained that the Better Care Fund (BCF) plan is a joint commissioning plan between the NHS ICP³ and the council. He added that Sutton is fortunate to have an alliance made up of NHS council providers, including the community charity base sector, that bring services to deliver on the ambitions within the BCF plan.

Laura explained that the final 2025-26 BCF planning template was presented for approval, and the national quarter one performance submission for noting. The planning template had been updated to reflect locally agreed area of spend scheme classifications, to confirm that all national conditions are met, and to update Sutton targets against two of the three core national metrics. The quarter one submission confirmed that Sutton's well-established BCF schemes were delivering this plan, expenditure was in line with projections, and performance was on track for two out of the three national metrics:

• Admissions to residential and nursing care: This metric is reported on track, and Sutton continues to perform strongly against it.
• Emergency admissions to hospitals for people aged 65 and over: Performance was slightly off track at the time of writing the report, but new data indicates an improved performance.
• Discharge ready dates: Data was not available for quarter one, but the latest available data suggests an improving picture.

Lucy, Chief Operating Officer, gave an update on the Hospital at Home programme, which was established in response to the challenge of delays coming out of hospital. She explained that the programme has looked to bring together all relevant partners under a new role called the transfer of care lead, who will take accountability and responsibility for all of the teams involved in discharging people from hospital.

Councillor Marian James, Chair: People Committee, asked how carers and family members fit into this integration path. Lucy responded that they are involved from the point of discharge planning, which starts at the front door of A&E. She added that the team will discuss discharge plans with family, carers and the residents themselves.

Councillor Jane Pascoe shared her experience of sitting with someone in A&E and at the point of discharge from hospital, and said that at no time did anybody explain to her the options and the process. She suggested that there should be better communication with patients to ensure they understand what is happening.

Pete Flavell asked whether there are any points at which patients' views are captured routinely, and whether there is a system in place to collate the data across the system to see if any improvements can be made. Lucy responded that the Family and Friends Test⁴ is captured at every point on discharge, but it may not get into the depth of the discharge and delays. She agreed that this is something that needs to be factored into the programme.

The board agreed to the following recommendations:

• To agree the Better Care Fund 2025-26 planning template with all national conditions met as in Appendix A of the agenda.
• To note the BCF 25-26 quarter one submission to NHS England, Appendix B of the agenda.
• To note the delivery updates on the Sutton Alliance for Supporting Home Programme.

Update on the Sutton Health and Care Plan

The board received an update on the Sutton Health and Care Plan, which describes how partners are coming together and collaborating to improve health and care services for local people.

Imran Choudhury, Strategic Director of Public Health, explained that the plan is particularly important given the number of challenges in the system, including financial challenges, new policy changes, and the upcoming election. He added that local partners have worked hard to shape a plan that is both pragmatic and focused, and that has real buying from local chiefs, the local hospital trust, the local health trust, the local charity, faith, community sectors, and the council.

Laura explained that the Sutton Health and Care Plan will comprise three elements:

• A draft narrative, which is the public-facing strategic plan that sets out the overall vision for how partners want to improve health and care services in Sutton.
• An outcomes framework, which will define the key outcomes and indicators to measure the impact of the deliverables on resident outcomes.
• A delivery plan, which will set out the specific actions that partners will take, the accountabilities, and how Southern Alliance partners will manage and resource implementation.

Michelle Rahman added that the Department of Health and Social Care released an operating plan framework in September, which asks for the development of a neighbourhood plan. She said that the local health and care plan is seen as the basis for the neighbourhood plan, but that some additional things may need to be added to it.

Councillor Jane Pascoe raised concerns about an announcement that EHCPs⁵ will be assessed at school, and asked where the health part of that assessment will come in. Michelle Rahman responded that the statutory responsibility for health on SEND remains the same, and that this would be met irrespective of where the assessment is carried out.

The board noted that the final draft of the Sutton Health and Care Plan 25-28, including the Outcomes Framework and Delivery Plan, will be submitted for approval to the 19th of January 2026 Health and Wellbeing Board.