HEALTHCARE officials who are poised to end a ground-breaking partnership with Torbay Council because it costs too much have been accused of letting spending spiral out of control.

The council’s partnership with the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust has been held up as a model of how adult social care should be provided, but the alliance is under threat.

The trust says the gap between the cost of providing the service and the funding it receives currently stands at £35million a year, and keeping it going is not sustainable. In an open letter to the people of South Devon, trust chief executive Joe Teape says other local services could suffer if the partnership continues to cost so much.

But Torbay’s Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling says the trust could have spent its money more wisely.

“They have added additional unnecessary costs,” he said. “They have done a belt-and-braces approach when just a belt would have done.”

The trust currently works with Torbay Council to provide adult social care services through an Integrated Care Organisation, and the government’s watchdog the Care Quality Commission recently praised the partnership in an inspection report.

The pioneering partnership has attracted national attention and supports the NHS 10-Year Plan to shift activity from hospital settings into communities.

Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) recently raised the alarm over the possible end of the partnership, saying that the amount of money contributed by the council was ‘fair’, and there were ways in which costs could be brought down.

Mr Teape’s open letter says the trust is proud of the success of the integrated approach, which supports some of the most vulnerable people in Torbay, but with demand and costs increasing, something has to change.

“It is no longer financially sustainable,” he says. “We have a statutory duty to break even and we cannot do that with such a significant shortfall in adult social care funding.

“Ultimately, this overspend will impact on the NHS services we provide and we have to prioritise these for our local communities.”

His letter goes on to say that the current model has ‘run its course’, and adds: “While it achieved real benefits for many years, it is no longer the right framework for the needs we face today.

“This review is not about stepping back from partnership working. It is about finding a fair, long‑term solution that protects adult social care and the wider health and care system that local people rely on.”

But Mr Darling said the trust had ‘just let the spending rip’ and had ‘over-medicalised’ its care packages.

“They have failed to grasp the nettle due to their failures as a management organisation. The local authority has given the trust clear guidance.

“As is the case with children’s services, you can get a firm grip on it by looking at the most expensive cases and doing the hard yards to get those sorted out.

“The trust is letting down the people of Torbay by its clear failure to properly engage with these issues.”

The trust expects to make a final decision at its board meeting early next month, after which there would be a 12-month transition period to a new set-up.