What’s happening
Health and care services have been under a significant and increasing pressure for the last few years. This has been caused by many factors including changes in population size and composition, increasing long-term health conditions, increasing availability of technology, staff shortages, financial limitations and buildings that are no longer fit for purpose. In addition, health policy and clinical and quality requirements also evolve as a result of these other changes. In meeting these challenges, the aim is always to achieve better health outcomes for our communities and these are outlined in greater depth in the Scottish Government’s stated National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes and Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Bill 2014 .
Changes already happening
Transformational change to the way services are delivered is required to support the National Health and Wellbeing outcomes and ensure you get to see the right person at the right time in the right place. These changes are intended to support a new model of care which has its emphasis on prevention, early intervention in the disease process and providing services nearer to home within the communities and within the home.
All the changes needed to improve the delivery of services will take time but there are some changes you may have already noticed. These changes have come about as a result of the Primary Care Improvement Plan which also set out the changes to GP contracts that were implemented in April 2018 where it is safe, appropriate and improves patient care, some tasks which are currently carried out by the GP, will be performed by qualified members of the Multi-disciplinary Team attached to each practice instead, either at the practice or at another site.
How communities help shape future health and social care
Communities are being asked what they think of the current services they are receiving and if they think they are being delivered in the right way and from the right premises. We also want to know how you think services could be improved and what they envisage services might look like in the future.
Your views are important because they will be used to shape the way future health services are delivered in your area.
In seeking to engage with communities EAHSCP comply with:
- The National Standards for Community Engagement which outlines best practice guidance for engagement between communities and public agencies.
- Inform, Engage, Consult CEL4 (2010) which provides detailed requirements for participation.
A workshop was organised to gather the views of the local people using the services, carers, professionals delivering the services and voluntary organisation who support the local communities
The event was scheduled to take place in Stewarton Area Centre on Saturday 29 February 2020 from 10am-12.30pm.
What was involved in the workshop?
From those attending as wide a range of views was gathered from as broad a representation of the community as possible. Stewarton has many active community groups and there was also a good representation from a number of the health and social care professionals who live and work in the area including those from Acute Services, Primary Care, District Nursing, Social Work, and Allied Health Professionals. Volunteers from the third sector and staff providing services from the independent sector also attended.
The event was opened and a warm welcome given by the Director of the East Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership, Eddie Fraser. A short presentation followed, delivered by Dr Crawford McGuffie, to give residents an understanding of why changes to health and social care services are needed. Angela Gracie from CVO colourfully demonstrated the complex journey one resident had to navigate in order to access the health and care services she needed.
There were 8-10 discussion groups where the opinions of the community were sought. Key to discussions was the best way to deliver the services needed in the future. The discussions considered the four questions below. Refreshments and scones were available in between sessions. Robert Whiteford gave an update on the Community Led Action plan for Stewarton and outlined the community’s hopes for future involvement.
Throughout the event a number of display stands were available showcasing local organisations providing services supporting aspects of health and wellbeing and the opportunities offered by digital innovations.
The questions
Thinking about the current health and wellbeing services provided in your local community:
- Question 1 - What is working well within your community (provide examples, stories of success)
- Question 2 - What is not working well? (indicate issues and priorities)
- Question 3 - What improvements would you like to see? What do you want good healthcare and social care to look like in future?
- Question 4 - How can further engagement and communication be best delivered?
Methodology
There was a mix of residents and professionals at each table to ensure no single voice or bias by profession dominated the opinion of each group. Each group had a facilitator to guide the discussion and prompt opinion. The opinions on each question were written on sticky notes and collected. The opinions were later analysed and themes were identified and clear areas for improvement emerged.
- Question 1 - The aim of question 1 was to find out what services are currently working for people and if there is a common reason why the service(s) is/are perceived to be running well?
- Question 2 - The aim of question 2 was to gain insight into why some aspects of health and care services are not working well and the factors which contribute to that.
- Question 3 - The facilitators showed each table a breakdown of the current populations in Stewarton and surrounding areas with an estimate of how the population is expected to change over the next 10-30 years. The aim of question 3 was to gain insight into how the community expected/wanted health and social care services to look like in the future and what changes they anticipated in levels and types of care.
- Question 4 - The aim of question 4 was to explore how we can effectively continue to engage and communicate with the community.
Outcomes
The outputs from the answers given during this workshop were analysed and key themes identified. Concerns and ideas were captured and recorded. A report was produced which will be used as a reference document for consideration and input as part of the wider planning process for the development of services to be delivered in the Stewarton area. View the Developing Stewarton Hub Analysis report (PDF 787Kb).
The next stage
Following the Community Engagement event, the information, concerns and opinion collected and incorporated into the report will be used by the planning groups to design and plan how future health and social care services will be delivered. The planning groups must give consideration to how best to deliver the services needed now and those that will be needed in the future based on the views of the community.
Please check this page at the end of June 2020 for an update and further information.