Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 13 August 2025
Back to Oban Lorn & the Isles Area Community Planning Group — 13 August 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 Argyll & Bute Community Planning Partnership Area Community Planning Group Partnership update Date: August 2025 Partner update – Public Health Community Link Workers A Community Link Worker is a member of the wider GP practice team that can provide support and advice on many social issues that may be affecting your health and wellbeing. They have a wide range of knowledge on local services and community-based groups and activities. Third Sector Organisation ‘With You’ has been commissioned by NHS Highland to provide the Community Link Worker service in the Argyll and Bute HSCP area. The service went live in April 2022 initially to 12 GP practices across Argyll and Bute. From March 2025, this service has been expanding and has recruited 3 new Community Link Workers. It is now available in most GP practices and can be accessed via referral or self-referral. For more information visit: Argyll and Bute Community Links Service | WithYou
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2 Community Link Working - Remote and Island evaluation In addition to the expansion, the Public Health team has received funding from the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health to undertake an evaluation of link working on some islands. The service is currently available on two islands (Islay and Bute) and reports good feedback in terms of wellbeing and other outcomes. However, we know there is more that could be done to tailor the service to best meet the needs of island communities. We would therefore like to expand what we know about Community Link Working on the two islands of Islay and Tiree: • Engaging island residents and healthcare providers to explore the specific health and social needs of the community and how/whether CLWs can address these effectively • Identifying challenges such as transport issues and digital exclusion, as well as facilitators like strong social networks and community trust, that influence the success of the CLW programme. We are doing this through discussions with CLWs, island residents, healthcare providers and community leaders. We held a successful event on Islay on 21st June and want to thank all of those who attended and gave us their views. We will share the outputs from this event soon. We are planning to visit Tiree in August/September following discussions with Tiree Development Trust and Tiree Community Council. Suicide Prevention Training A reminder that there are a range of suicide prevention training programmes available for Argyll and Bute residents and staff to attend for free. Full details can be found here: Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Training Argyll & Bute ASIST SafeTALK Mental Health First Aid — Living Well or here: https://www.ablivingwell.org/s/Mental-Health-Awareness-and-Suicide-Prevention- Training_Argyll-and-Bute.pdf Argyll and Bute Living Well The Living Well Programme Board is a multi-partner group with a vision that people in Argyll and Bute live longer, healthier, independent lives. Over the past year, the Living Well Programme Board has focused on two key areas of work: 1. Community rehabilitation and wellbeing - a new service has been developed to deliver physical activity and behaviour change programmes within the community, including physical rehabilitation, strength, balance, frailty and education. Five new practitioner posts were recruited to work alongside physiotherapy and community physical activity colleagues such as Live Argyll, Lorn and Oban Healthy Options and Macpool. The service began to take referrals in early 2025. Next steps for the programme are to continue engagement with HSCP health professionals to raise awareness of the programme and support referrals. There is also ongoing work with the
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3 Communities Working Together group to ensure that there are suitable groups for the graduating participants to move onto to maintain the good habits they have formed. Finally, the main aim is to develop the long-term sustainability plan for the programme. 2. Community working together - this workstream brings the Living Well vision to life by strengthening relationships, supporting community-led action, and improving access to the things that help people live well. Outcomes include the development of a new 'walking development officer' post with Argyll and Bute Third Sector Interface, exploration of a 'one-front-door' approach to ensuring communities can access information about groups and services, and significant work on upskilling staff on the community engagement techniques known as Art of Hosting. Art of hosting at The Living Well Programme A need was identified to bring together a wide range of partners to explore how we collectively address major issues affecting Scotland’s rural and island communities. Working with communities is important for health and wellbeing because it helps people have more say in decisions that affect their lives. It focuses on what really matters to people. It also builds trust and support, helping communities work together to build on their strengths and solve health problems. This programme of work has focused on training people living and working within Argyll and Bute in methods of working with communities called Art of Hosting: developing a community of people dedicated to finding out what matters to communities and how we can work together to improve health. The Art of Hosting methods help groups work together more effectively by using meaningful conversations to solve complex challenges. It combines methods like Circle, World Café, and Open Space Technology to create spaces where people feel heard, engaged, and empowered to act. The Art of Hosting Community of Practice in Argyll and Bute ranges across health, social care, council, 3rd sector and other members of the community and now has approximately 30 members. Training has taken place in June and October and there are regular practice sessions which allow people to become confident in these skills. Some training attendees provided feedback in the form of a video which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/bzswhHr-5ro. More information is also available here: What is the Art of Hosting? | Art of Hosting Community Assets for Living Well Art of Hosting Workshop - Argyll & Bute Third Sector Interface Work will continue in 2025 to put these methods into practice locally
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4 Launch of the Population Health Framework The Population Health Framework sets out Scottish Government's and COSLA’s long-term collective approach to improving Scotland’s health and reducing health inequalities for the next decade. It sets out how national and local government will work with public sector partners, community organisations and business to tackle the root causes of ill health. As much as 80% of what affects health happens outside the health and care system. The NHS is just one part of the whole system – local government, public agencies and a range of sectors and organisations – that must have a laser focus on preventing ill health. The Framework is structured around the prevention drivers of health and wellbeing, with an overarching driver focused on ‘how’ the system needs to transform to be more prevention-oriented through coordinated activities across all drivers. The drivers capture the essential building blocks of health and highlight interconnected areas of focus which require collaborative action across government and sectors. The Prevention Drivers of Health and Wellbeing are: • Prevention Focused System – Strengthen collective accountability for population health outcomes and inequalities • Social and Economic Factors – Improve the social and economic factors that support better health and reduce inequalities • Places and Communities – Create healthy and sustainable places by working in and with communities • Enabling Healthy Living – Develop supportive environments that promote health and wellbeing and reduce health harming activities • Equitable Health and Care – Foster a health and social care system that delivers equity, prevention and early intervention. The Population Health Framework can be accessed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-population-health- framework/pages/1/
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5 REPORT AUTHOR AND CONTACT Author Names: Jenny Dryden Health Improvement Lead Email: nhsh.abhealthimprovement@nhs.scot Appendix 1 Working Well with Communities Paper