This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New Drive to improve community care
26/10/1998
Scottish Office Health and Housing Ministers Sam Galbraith and Calum MacDonald today joined forces in a new drive to improve the quality and effectiveness of community care in Scotland.
A Scottish Office Action Plan, published today, aims to:
· provide better and quicker decision making;
· help more people get care at home; and
· develop more locality based working through new local partnerships.
Outlining the Plan in Castlemilk today, Scottish Health Minister Sam Galbraith said:
"Much has been achieved since the community care policy was introduced five years ago. But we also know that there are justifiable concerns about how it works in practice.
"We want to modernise both the management of community care and the services themselves to secure better results for people who use and need them. We want social work and housing departments, Health Boards, NHS Trusts and Scottish Homes to work together more effectively. The Plan sets out a basis for doing that. Our joint commitment to the Action Plan gives the lead, and we aim to ensure its success.
"Under the plan, people should benefit from more flexible, better targeted and better co-ordinated services, available in their own homes wherever possible. People deserve modern and effective community care services."
Scottish Housing Minister Calum MacDonald said:
"Statutory housing bodies like local councils and Scottish Homes have a key role to play in meeting the need for care in the community. It is vital that they play a full role at all stages - from the development of joint strategies to the delivery of care.
"Home based care combined with suitable housing is what most people and those who care for them prefer. But this depends for its success on making sure that the housing is suitable. That is why community care housing, including adaptations for those with special needs, continues to be a priority for housing investment.
"To complement the Action Plan, we will shortly be consulting on new guidance for housing and community care. This will cover a range of topics such as strategic planning, the funding and delivery of individual projects and hospital discharge arrangements."
The Plan identifies good practice already happening in different parts of Scotland. The Government want that good practice to be the norm throughout the country. For example:
- in Shetland, people in care contributing to their own care plans and having a copy in their home
- reducing bureaucracy in South Lanarkshire by reducing the number of departments and putting resources into front-line care
- delegating budgets to front-line care managers in Aberdeenshire
- and joint home care between social work, housing and health in Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire.
These and other examples of good practice already working successfully in other areas of Scotland are a vital part of achieving the Plan's goals.
BACKGROUND
1. The Plan, Modernising Community Care, has been issued widely with a view to early implementation of the key proposals. Consultation on the need for further legislation will last until the end of January. The Plan will also be accessible via the Internet on The Scottish Office Website ( www.scotland.gov.uk).
2. As community care is a cross cutting policy, the Plan sits alongside common themes and initiatives in the Department of Health's White Paper Designed to Care and Green Paper Working Together for a Healthier Scotland; and it will dovetail with new guidance in housing and community care to be issued soon.
3. Local Authority Social Work and Housing Departments, Health Boards and Scottish Homes already spend substantial resources on community care in Scotland. Following the Comprehensive Spending Review, the £750 million a year Social Work Departments already spend will be boosted by a major share of the extra £132 million provided for social work over the next 3 years. Community care will also benefit from some of the extra £2,100 million over three years provided for health and housing. The new money will be used to help modernise community care and provide the services people really want.
News Release: 2179/98
26 October, 1998