Partnership launches consultation and engagement

Just before Christmas (on 20 December 2018), East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership (ELHSCP) launched the first stage of its consultation and engagement around the priorities for the next East Lothian Integration Joint Board (IJB) Strategic Plan 2019-22. The plan will describe and support the work of the IJB and the ELHSCP over the next three years, including how services will be prioritised and developed and how resources will be utilised.

East Lothian Interim Director of Health and Social Care Alison Macdonald says:

"The first part of the engagement centres on the strategic aims and objectives we set ourselves when the IJB was established in 2015. We’re asking people to tell us which of those aims and objectives are most important to them now, and getting them to look at some new priorities that have been agreed recently, which aim to tackle the challenges resulting from rising levels need, a growing population, new legislation and national priorities. We are really grateful to a number of people who have already responded to our survey, which went online just before Christmas. I just want to remind people who haven’t taken part yet about how important it is to get your views in now, as we would really value the input and it will help us to ensure so that the new plan really reflects the needs and wishes of people in East Lothian."
 
The aims and objectives from the 2015 IJB Strategic Plan include:

• making universal services more accessible and proportionate to need and developing our communities
• improving prevention and early intervention
• reducing unplanned admissions to hospital
• providing care closer to home
• delivering services within an integrated care model
• enabling people to have more choice and control
• further optimising efficiency and effectiveness
• reducing health inequalities
• building and supporting partnership working.

The aims emerging as the most important so far are:

1. improving early intervention and prevention
2. providing care closer to home
3. enabling people to have more choice and control.

The least important aim at the moment appears to be further optimising efficiencies and effectiveness.

Alison Macdonald adds:

"We also asked if people thought our six new local priorities are right. These are Primary Care, Adults with Complex Needs, Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Shifting the Balance of Care, Reprovision Programmes and Carers. Over two-thirds of you thought we’d got it right; nearly 11 per cent didn’t think so, and a further 21 per cent made suggestions of their own, including more focus on mental health services for adolescents and dementia services, which we will be looking at very closely as part of our work around mental health.

"This first survey will close on 3 February so there’s still plenty of time to take part. We’re also going to be holding events and meetings between now and mid-March to allow more in-depth discussions. We will factor in feedback we have from other consultations like the Carers Strategy; What Do I Want For My Life, and Growing Older and consutlations on individual service developemts .  We will also be issuing a fuller version of the draft strategic plan soon so that people can see the impact of what they have told us so far in setting the priorities for health and social care in East Lothian."

If you would like to tell ELHSCP what you think, take the short survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JS3CRHG

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