News
Better Care Fund: Focus cash on neighbourhood care reforms, councils told
Councils are expected to focus recently allocated Better Care Fund (BCF) cash on ensuring adult social care services work with the NHS to support the introduction of the government’s ‘Neighbourhood’ health and care drive, the government has said. The BCF - first introduced over ten years
ago under the coalition government - has always been focused on reducing hospital admissions and improving integration between the NHS and social care - but is expected to be used this year to lay foundations for reforms set out in the NHS 10 year plan to shift care out of hospitals, focus on prevention and promote greater independence for people with long term conditions such as dementia. The allocations given to each council are
broadly the same as last year but are expected to change next year as Neighbourhood health and care framework plans become operational. Councils are expected to work with
Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to plan spending in 2026 on ‘supporting delivery of more integrated and preventative services which support independence, prevent
avoidable admissions to hospital or long- term residential care, and enable timely and effective acute, community and mental health hospital discharge,’ the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. This ‘includes developing the quality,
efficiency and outcomes of intermediate care,’ it added.
Proactive care The government wants ICBs to set up new ‘integrated neighbourhood teams’ (INTs) to lead delivery of redesigned services to ’prevent deterioration, avoid unnecessary hospital use and provide seamless care across settings’. The teams will be expected to put agreed
care plans in place for the vast majority (95 per cent) of people with complex needs by next year, and ‘deliver assessment, care planning, co-ordination and follow- on support’, the Department said in its neighbourhood health framework published in March. It added that ICBs should configure INTs
based on what’s needed to suit local needs, adding some ‘may benefit from the inclusion of care workers’. The guidance said that, on a national
basis, NHS England will ask ICBs to ensure INTs are set up with an initial focus on ‘people with frailty, and those who need end of life care’ – a ‘priority cohort’ because those over 75 living with frailty, those at end of life and those living in care homes account for 25 per cent of non-elective admissions and 50 per cent of bed days despite comprising just 3-5 per cent of the overall population.
Doctor-founded Macc Care opens 18th Midlands home
Luxury care home operator Macc Care has opened a 72-bed home in Shirley - its 18th in the region. Macc Care said the new home - Heathview Rose - has been designed to meet increasing demand for high-quality, person-centred care in the West Midlands, offering en-suite accommodation alongside a range of communal and therapeutic spaces to support residents with varying and complex needs’.
The group said it has plans to open a 19th facility in Codsall later this year as part of its “focus on sustainable growth”, according to director Bhav Amlani. It is also planning to open two further homes this year in locations yet to be announced.
Compared with other regions, the Midlands offers a relatively stable operating environment for providers, facing fewer structural supply shortages than London, where limited bed availability continues to contribute to delayed hospital discharges, while avoiding some of the more acute funding pressures experienced in northern regions, according to Care Quality Commission (CQC) analysis. As a result, the region has emerged over the past year as a comparatively resilient middle-ground market, combining steady occupancy, moderate fee growth and relatively balanced supply conditions, with investor interest supported by strong demographic fundamentals, according to sector-wide market reports.
McGoff Group to grow Dunham Care after £15m investment
The McGoff Group Projects is set to grow new care home operator, Dunham Care, after £15m backing from AJ Bell founder and former director Andy Bell. The funding will primarily support
Dunham Care, the group’s new care home arm, which opened its first home in Herne Bay, Kent, earlier this year, the firm said. It added it has two further facilities under
construction in South Manchester and Cheshire, and a further eight care home projects with planning consent or imminent
planning applications in development, expected to be delivered in five to seven years, including a ‘cluster’ in the South-East. McGoff said Dunham Care will build on
the group’s previous care home operator, New Care, which developed and ran ‘design- led’ homes aimed at the private fee-paying market, and was valued at £275m when sold to HIG Real Estate-backed Lovett Care in 2024. Chris McGoff said the demand for “state of the art care homes” was rising
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www.thecarehomeenvironment.com June 2026
as demographic pressures increase and older settings become “obsolete” amid tighter regulation and higher energy and employment costs.
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