Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed Ms Jane Douglas, Principal Assistant Social Care & Health, NHS Borders to the meeting to give a presentation on the Health and Social Care Integration agenda.  Ms Douglas explained that as part of Health and Social Care Integration, NHS Borders and SBC were attending a number of public engagement events to give an overview on the progress on the Integration agenda. The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 required 14 Health Boards and all 32 Local Authorities across Scotland to develop integration arrangements for each Council area, to establish a Joint Integration Board and by April 2016 develop a three year Strategic plan covering the commissioning of adult care and health.  Ms Douglas referred to some of the challenges facing an Integrated Service, including public spending and the provision required to meet the needs of an ageing population.  The second draft Strategic Plan would be published by the end of June 2015 with the next key date being finalisation of the Plan on 31 October 2015.  A Strategic Planning Group (SPG) had been set up, the membership of which included users and carers of social and health care services; commercial and non-commercial bodies providing health and social care; health and social care professionals; non-commercial and social housing providers; and third sector bodies that carried out activities related to health and social care.    Ms Douglas went on to state that with an ageing population, with more chronic conditions to support, there would be a rising demand for services.  There was a need to deliver better outcomes – improving joint working, better communication, reducing duplication and sharing information.   Ms Douglas gave an example of how the new Strategy was expected to improve the experience and outcomes for an imaginary service user by using health and social care professionals in the best way possible.    In terms of locality arrangements, there were five locality areas in the Scottish Borders, including Teviot and Liddesdale,  these areas would be key to the effective engagement of local stakeholders in the design and delivery of services.  The presentation included a number of graphs and tables which demonstrated a range of profiles comparing Teviot and Liddesdale with the Scottish Borders – there had been 397, per 1,000 population, emergency admissions to the hospital for people over 75 in the Teviot and Liddesdale area, compared to 382 in the Scottish Borders as a whole.   It was also highlighted that  in 20 years’ time there would not be the number of people to care for the ageing population.   Other health issues such as dementia and multi-morbidity were also likely to increase across the country as a whole and would present further challenges which the Health and Social Care Integration Strategic Plan would seek to address.   Ms Douglas concluded the presentation by advising that they were still taking comments on the Strategy.  The second draft would be published at the beginning of July with a further consultation period ending on the 22 September.  In answer to questions, Ms Douglas advised that they were considering how they could work with the Borders Carer Service.  The delay in outpatients’ appointments was acknowledged and a review of services would be undertaken.  Ms Douglas noted the complaint that patients were often retained in the discharge lounge for longer than necessary.  There was also concern that patients were discharged too early, Ms Douglas stated that the aim was to support people in their own homes, but if this did not meet the patients’ needs, then a flexible approach was required.  The Chairman thanked Ms Douglas for the informative presentation.

DECISION

NOTED.