Seminar focuses on improving adult social care in the Highlands

Highland Councillors held a successful meeting today (Thursday) with Chief Officers of NHS Highland to identify ways of further improving the delivery of adult social care across the Highlands.

The Council and NHS Highland were the first agencies in Scotland to integrate the delivery of adult social care in April 2012 and this model is now being rolled out across Scotland.

Under this joined-up approach, the Council funds NHS Highland to deliver adult social care on its behalf, bringing together the health and social work budgets for the benefit of service users. The partnership agreement between the two agencies has resulted in the development of integrated health and care teams in communities, and the enhancement of local services. 

A seminar at Council HQ, Inverness, was arranged to update elected members on the pace of these changes and to learn more about the financial challenges, taking account of the current pressures on the NHS Highland budget.

Bill Alexander, Director of Health and Social Care for The Highland Council, introduced the seminar, emphasising that both agencies understood that it would take time for the organisational changes to fully impact on service delivery, but that improvements were already being seen.  A key driver for integration had been the recognition of increasing demand for social care services.  Across Scotland, this was resulting in budget pressures for Health Boards and Councils, and Highland was now well placed to deal with this, having made the change to a single management arrangement.

Jan Baird, Director of Adult Care for NHS Highland, said that the organisation was fully committed to taking this programme forward, as part of a change and improvement plan.  She detailed a number of improvements that had already taken place, and explained how integrated front line teams were being brought together.  She acknowledged that there had been concerns about capacity in Care at Home services, and set out an action plan to address these.  She also explained how NHS Highland had introduced new processes to ensure quality in Care Homes, and to speed up discharge from hospital.

Councillor David Alston, who chaired the meeting, welcomed the positive and constructive discussion.  He said: “We are leading ground-breaking work in Highland, bringing social care and clinical services together for adults.  During the changeover to NHS Highland, we maintained continuity in service, and that was a considerable achievement.  We have heard today how NHS Highland plan to further change and improve these services, and that is very welcome.”

Councillor Alasdair Christie, Chair of the Council’s Adult and Children’s Services Committee, acknowledged the scale of the challenge. He said: “There are increasing numbers of older people across Scotland, and we also have increasing numbers of people who require complex care packages.  We have simplified the organisational arrangements to reduce bureaucracy and make the delivery of care more joined up.  Today’s meeting enabled Councillors to ask NHS Highland about what this means for their communities, and about the financial challenges going forward.  This will help both the Council and NHS Highland to make more informed decisions about these issues as we continue to move forward.”

Councillor Jaci Douglas, Depute Leader of the Independent Group, said: “Today was a very useful and productive day, in which Councillors were able to air issues and ask questions directly with NHS Senior Officials, to help agree the way we all move forward together with adult care.  We all want the very best services for our communities, and it is important that we have a shared vision, work together, and keep the communication lines open.”