03 August 2017
Annual report shows Aberdeenshire leading the way in health and social care
Members of the Integration Joint Board have heaped praise upon staff working together to deliver the first full year of the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership.
They recently met to agree the Annual Report for the Partnership, formed in February 2016 to bring together the full range of community health and social care needs into one service. The three year Strategic Plan adopted by the Integration Joint Board (IJB) came with a commitment to reporting back each year on progress.
The report, which is available online, celebrates a number of achievements.
Among them, progress that has been made to reduce the number of people who are delayed in hospital. Through a commitment to increasing care at home, falls prevention and a rehabilitation approach, progress has been made in getting people discharged from hospital earlier and avoid readmission.
Another achievement praised in the report is the implementation of the Virtual Community Wards (VCW). This means that vulnerable people can be monitored regularly and an appropriate level of treatment and care provided to avoid hospital admission. More than 600 people have been supported at home this year by the VCW, when previously they would have been admitted to hospital.
Participatory budgeting has also been introduced across Aberdeenshire and celebrated in the report. This innovative approach brings communities together to decide the priorities in terms of new developments or projects and gives people a real sense of being involved in how money is spent in their area.
The report goes on to show an increase in the number of unpaid carers getting support from Quarriers, a charity established to support young people and adults in caring roles.
Chair of the Integration Joint Board Cllr Anne Stirling said: “The board was very pleased to see the progress made in this first year. We are extremely grateful to the
staff on the ground who work incredibly hard in often very challenging circumstances.
“This report is reassuring, not only because it reflects the great work done in just one year but also because it shows Aberdeenshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership regularly performing above the national average in terms of the delivery of care at point of need.
“We are all working together to try to make a difference in challenging times and this report commends that tremendous collective effort. We look forward to an equally positive year to come as we continue to work with our communities to provide high quality services across a range of priorities."
Figures released recently revealed Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership has the fewest emergency admissions to hospital in Scotland. It also has the fewest emergency bed days in mainland Scotland and the number of people who have falls is significantly lower than the Scottish Average. The number of bed days lost to delayed discharge is also lower than at any point since 2012.
The full report is available here: http://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=486&meetid=18880