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JOINT FUTURE AGENDA: SHORT LIFE WORKING GROUP ON JOINT PREMISES DEVELOPMENT IN PRIMARY AND COMMUNITY CARE: FINAL REPORT

Dear Colleague

REPORT OF THE SHORT LIFE WORKING GROUP ON JOINT PREMISES DEVELOPMENT IN COMMUNITY CARE

I am writing to invite your comments, by 12 September please, on the report of the above group.

Finding more holistic approaches to financing and managing premises is important in its own right. But it also offers the opportunity to contribute to improved results in a number of key areas - developing joint services under the Joint Future Agenda, modernising primary care, and attracting private sector financing into the public sector. The object is to improve people's access to services, provide more integrated and better quality services, and as a result improve outcomes for them.

The Group was set up to make recommendations to address factors inhibiting the development of joint services. Its analysis recognises the considerable bureaucracy and frustration felt to date. The Group proposes solutions at a number of levels:

• Developing more systematic and holistic approaches generally.
• Providing a "toolkit" to support practice generally.
• Legislating to enable new resource streams to be introduced if the potential demand for joint premises is to be met in the longer term.

The report is in 7 parts:

• Part 1 sets out the Group's approach.
• Part 2 puts the Group's work in a broader policy context.
• Part 3 identifies the key result areas drawn from existing experience of joint premises.
• Part 4 spells out the lessons in Part 3 in detail, with recommendations.
• Part 5 suggests making available the toolkit.
• Part 6 suggests other models of more flexible financing of joint premises.
• Part 7 suggests developing a performance indicator for joint premises within the JPIAF framework.

Annexes comprise for the most part examples of good practice.

We would be grateful for your comments on the report. Outcomes from this exercise will take the form of both formal and practice guidance based on the report, and legislation on more flexible models of delivry to sustain joint premises development in the longer term. The latter dimension is addressed for the first time, in preparation for legislation under the NHS Reform Miscellaneous Provisions Bill. It is these preparations that constrain the window of consultation on the report.

We do not expect detailed comments on individual components of the report. Rather, it would be helpful to Ministers' consideration of the report if your comments were to be channelled, as follows:

• Do the recommendations for administrative action (recommendations 1 to 18) constitute a valuable suite of action to progress this agenda in the short to medium term.
• Would you value our issuing the toolkit as described in Part 5.
• Do you agree, in principle, the recommendations (19 to 21) to provide new funding vehicles to support development of joint premises in the longer term, including legislating to enable that.

Your comments should be sent to Susan Duncan, 3 ^rd Floor East Rear, St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG ( SusanC.Duncan@scotland.gsi.gov.uk) by 12 September.

As is customary, comments will be assumed to be accessible publicly and held in the Scottish Executive's library, unless we are advised to the contrary.

Yours sincerely	Yours sincerely
J A RENNIE	H WILSON
Head of Community Care Division 2	Head of Primary Care Division

The Joint Future Unit leads policy development and implementation on joint working between health, housing, and social work (which its membership reflects) and is located in Community Care Division 2 of the Health Department.

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