HEALTH chiefs in Dudley will now have an additional £4.4million to spend on health and social care across the borough after being awarded a NHS cash boost.

The funding comes as part of the national ‘vanguard’ programme, which is encouraging health and social care organisations to join forces to develop and implement a new way of working.

Last year, NHS England announced 29 areas across the country which had been chosen to put forward their ideas for redesigning care in their areas and would receive money from the national NHS transformation fund.

Dudley CCG’s bid was successful and received initial funding of £2.72 million last March, enabling the development of a Multi-specialty Community Provider (MCP) model.

The fund is investing £900m over the next five years to speed up the development of infrastructure, as well as joining-up out of hospital care for patients.

As part of the CCG’s ‘All Together Better’ banner, the MCP model aims to tackle the health challenges which Dudley faces over the coming years, including a growing number of elderly residents, and people living with a long term condition.

Paul Maubach, Dudley CCG’s chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to have received this latest funding. This will allow us to continue our work to redesign the health and care system, to ensure we can support teams across organisations to work better together to support our most vulnerable people in the borough.

“We are already seeing the difference that this new way of working is having on people's lives following the launch of the Integrated Plus service.

“The development of an MCP is a key part of recognising we need to do things differently. Since taking on the responsibility of commissioning primary care last year we are keen to prioritise its development, the funding will help us to do this.

“The money will also support our plans to further develop a network of GP led Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs). With the GP at the heart of this model, this will see all the people involved in a person’s care coming together regularly at the GP practice to discuss their needs.

“As a result of health and care working better together in this way, Dudley people will not only receive support at the right time, in the right place necessary for their health needs, they will also be connected with other organisations to build better links into local communities and voluntary care services.”

For more information about the CCG’s All Together Better partnership, which details the future of health and care services in Dudley, visit www.dudleyccg.nhs.uk/alltogetherbetter