Official Report search · Parliament Workbench

Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 15 September 2011

15 Sep 2011 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Social Care Services (Procurement)

Campbell, Aileen SNP Clydesdale Watch on SPTV

I think that we are sending a clear signal that this Government has a joined-up approach, and we are reflecting the importance of local government in the debate.

Let me be clear from the outset that, despite the overall £1.3 billion funding cuts imposed by the United Kingdom Government, the total funding package of £11.5 billion has maintained local government’s share of the overall Scottish budget in 2011-12. I also want to make it clear that, despite the tightening of funding, this Government will do what it can to ensure that every vulnerable person receives the highest level of social care, and that the appropriate structures and regulations are in place to ensure that they receive that care.

We are working with the public and key partners to develop a compelling vision for the care of older people in Scotland now and into the future—a vision of fully integrated care, and a vision that sees our increasing older population living longer, healthier lives, and staying for as long as possible in their homes or in the community.

Over the summer, I have been lucky enough to visit a number of inspiring projects across the country, which serve to illustrate how people’s lives can be changed for the better when public services do what they can to work in partnership and take innovative approaches to the delivery of health and social care.

In South Lanarkshire, I learned about a very important project between the council and NHS Lanarkshire, which was focused on reducing falls and their associated hospital admissions. The project’s early success has led to it being rolled out widely around all council care homes and to it being looked at furth of South Lanarkshire. In Highland, I visited Nairn hospital, which is a multi-use facility that has been jointly commissioned by the council and NHS Highland. Those projects underlined to me how much more we can achieve when we work together, but they also underlined to me that people who use such services care about the service and its quality, not about who delivers it. What is important is the person, not the way in which we structure our organisations.

We need to provide better services, with better outcomes, for more people, using resources that will be under pressure for some time to come. Audit Scotland’s review of community health partnerships made it clear that a voluntary approach towards the integration of health and social care has not delivered fast or far enough. We therefore need to drive up efficiency and productivity, and we need to accelerate the integration of health and social care delivery, which will help to ensure the sustainability of high-quality care. We are ensuring that we speak to people—key stakeholders—about how we do that. We want to build on the systems that are already working well and not get diverted into reforming structures for the sake of change.

Search Hansard contributions

Meeting of the Parliament 15 September 2011

In the same item of business