Health and Social Care

It’s all about Integration: Keynote Plenary Speeches Overview

July 22, 2015 by Linda White No Comments | Category Uncategorized

“Over the two days we will be discussing the most important reform in recent times: health and social care integration” (Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport)

The plenary speeches at the NHSScotland Event 2015 highlighted the progress we are making towards integrating health and social care across the country. Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, Shona Robison delivered the keynote speech on the first day of the event and announced that the occasion marked the start of a “national conversation” about health and social care.

Ms Robison went on to say that although Scotland’s pioneering work on integrating health and social care demonstrated that we are beginning our journey to change from a position of strength, alterations are required as the demographics of the country evolve.

Ms Robison praised the work of health and social care staff and stakeholders before calling for everyone to get involved in the ‘national conversation’ debate that will help to shape our health and social care organisations? for the better, for everyone.

Then, we heard from Geoff Huggins, Acting Director for Health and Social Care Integration, who discussed the challenges and opportunities that integration presents.

He also highlighted the innovative work that he and his team have been doing around the use of data to analyse health and social care services. Datacosmology, as Geoff calls this use of data, is the “study” of statistics, facts and figures which will allow us to build a bigger picture and understand the lived experience of service users; as opposed to evaluating one or two services that an individual receives. For more information about data to support integration contact Alison.Taylor@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or Paul.Leak@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Geoff concluded by saying that, “as we think about integration, we need to look beyond clinical activity to how people live their life”.

Paul Gray, DG Health and Social Care and Chief Executive, NHSScotland highlighted that any changes that we make to our health and social care services need to be built around the wants and needs of service users, their families and their carers. Mr Gray, whilst closing the first day of the event, reinforced that care should be delivered with compassion and understanding.

Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health, also remarked on the importance of health and social care integration on day two. He argued that the need for integration is not rooted in finance, but in doing the right thing for Scotland.

John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth also joined the call for streamlining and integrating services, saying when we build new services, they should be built around individuals. The Deputy First Minister also added that the role NHS has in Scotland is massively important and that integration requires commitment from us all.

Videos and full speeches from the event will be made available on the NHSScotland Event website in in the near future.

Tags: 2015, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Event, NHSScotland, Plenary Speeches, Wellbeing and Sport

Comments