Chief Officer's Report
Argyll and Bute Council · 25 January 2023
Back to Argyll and Bute HSCP Integration Joint Board (IJB) — 25 January 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 Integration Joint Board Agenda item: Date of Meeting: 25 January 2023 Title of Report: Chief Officer Report Presented by: Fiona Davies, Chief Officer The Integration Joint Board is asked to: Note the following report from the Chief Officer Introduction I would like to welcome you to my Chief Officer Report for January 2023. In this month’s report I have highlighted the system pressures that we are facing as an organisation and the challenges that the current high levels of flu, and other respiratory illnesses, are having on our service delivery. I would like to remind the public to avoid visiting vulnerable people in hospitals and social care settings if they have flu-like symptoms or are feeling generally under the weather. Despite the challenges that we are facing our staff are continuing to deliver a high standard of health and social care service for the people of Argyll and Bute and I would like to thank all staff, and our partners and stakeholders, for all that they do every day in their local communities In my report I am also pleased to highlight that the Scottish Government has designated Argyll and Bute HSCP as a pathfinder for the Getting it Right for Everyone (GIRFE) Programme. This is great news and I have included more information on GIRFE further in the report. We are also working on arranging an Excellence Awards programme and ceremony this year. These awards had been held previously but were paused in the last couple of years due to COVID-19. This is a great opportunity to celebrate and recognise the hard work of the people working within the health and social care sector in Argyll and Bute and further details will be available soon. The last thing that I would like to mention in this introduction is the chaplaincy service. We have three chaplains in Argyll and Bute who provide a fantastic service and between them they cover the HSCP. The chaplains are looking for ‘chaplaincy assistants’ to assist them with visits and speaking with patients/relatives and staff members. More information is available in the report.
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2 HSCP Updates Getting it Right for Everyone The Getting it Right for Everyone (GIRFE) Scottish Government Programme is part of the development of the National Care Service and builds on existing adult best practice and Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC). It is a proposed multi- agency approach of support and services from young adulthood to end of life care and will help define the adult's journey through individualised support and services. It is about providing a more personalised way to access help and support when it is needed and placing the person at the centre of decisions that affect them to achieve the best outcomes. Argyll and Bute HSCP, along with all other HSCPs, was invited by the Scottish Government to apply to be a pathfinder for the Programme. The proposal would be that five pathfinders would be chosen and they would be aligned to five key themes. There was strong support from the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) for the HSCP to apply to be a pathfinder and an application was submitted and following discussions with the Scottish Government team running the Programme we were delighted to be offered the opportunity to become a pathfinder site. We are still in the early stages of developing our plans and on 14 December 2022 representatives from SLT, and a number of other HSCPs, attended the first in a number of training sessions facilitated by the Scottish Government. The scope and detail of Argyll and Bute’s contribution will be shaped through a number of other events that are being held through January and February 2023. Ministerial Meetings In December the Chief Officer travelled to Edinburgh to meet with Angela Constance, the Minister for Drugs Policy. Following this meeting the Chief Officer also met with Kevin Stewart, the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, to discuss the proposals for the National Care Service and how this will link in with remote and rural areas such as Argyll and Bute. Winter Planning The HSCP's Winter Plan is continued to be reviewed and implemented on a regular basis and weekly winter planning meeting are being held to discuss the current pressures and the actions that are being taken to mitigate them. Winter Planning also remains a standing item on the Senior Leadership Team agenda and a verbal update is provided to SLT at every meeting.
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3 Service Updates Housing Occupational Therapist Within the HSCP we have a Housing Advanced Occupational Therapist who plays a key role in developing and maintaining links with our housing partners. The post is funded by Argyll and Bute Council Housing Services and they provide expert advice to both housing and Occupational Therapy colleagues in planning and delivery of complex housing solutions and adaptations. This post supports localities across Argyll and Bute in continuing to undertake Housing and OT reviews of clients where a medical need has been identified. This ensures that new build properties and pre-adapted properties are allocated effectively to meet the medical needs of tenants. In the Oban, Lorn & Isles area this collaborative approach has successfully met the housing needs of 52 individuals or families over the course of the last year. Chaplaincy Service The HSCP currently has three chaplains (1.3wte) who between them cover the various localities across Argyll and Bute. They offer a service to the people who use our services, relatives/carers and also HSCP staff. The chaplain is someone who people go to for a wide variety of reasons, some spiritual some not, and they will be there to talk, or provide a listening ear, to each person who contacts them. In some cases it might not even be the actual thing which brought them into contact with the chaplain in the first place. A quiet caring response will be offered by the chaplain and they also offer time, confidentiality, no fixed time limit (within reason) and they will meet with people at a time and place that suits them and it can be face to face, online or by telephone. The chaplain service is also looking to have one and maybe two volunteers working with them. These will be chaplaincy assistants who will assist the chaplains with visits, speaking with patients/relatives and staff members. This will be a great asset to the team and will provide more time for people. If anyone is interested in being considered for this role then they can contact the chaplaincy service via nhs.abhscp@nhs.scot. Operational Challenges Dental Services in Kintyre The Dalriada Dental Practice in Kintyre is an independent General Dental Service (GDS) rather than a directly managed (Public Dental Service or PDS) site. This means that the practice works to a nationally agreed contract rather than being directly managed by the HSCP. The Practice is currently experiencing significant recruitment challenges and the current dentists are working tirelessly to meet the needs of their patients. To help support the Practice, while it continues to actively recruit for new dentists, the HSCP has offered 3 slots for emergency care per week to help reduce pressure
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4 and also made the Student clinic in Campbeltown available to provide a course of treatment to unregistered patients in the area, subject to suitability of cases and the capacity that students have to provide treatment. Following consultation with the General Dental Practitioners in Kintyre and Mid Argyll the HSCP is also offering NHS dental registration to all unregistered patients living within the Kintyre area. This registration will be with the Dental Department at Mid Argyll Hospital and Integrated Care Centre in Lochgilphead. We would like to thank all our dental practitioners for their continuing commitment to providing a high standard of service to the people of Argyll and Bute during what has been an extremely challenging time for all health professionals. System Pressures The HSCP is continuing to face significant system pressures across both hospital and social care settings. There has been an increase in the levels of flu, and other respiratory illnesses, in local communities across Scotland, including in Argyll and Bute, and this is has led to additional pressures on our hospitals and our social care settings during what is already a very busy time. We would like to remind the public to avoid visiting vulnerable people in hospitals and other health and social care settings if they have flu-like symptoms or are feeling generally under the weather. We are also strongly advising people to think about whether they really need to come in to visit people at this time. Reducing non-urgent visitor activity in confined spaces such as hospital wards will help to reduce risk to people who are ill, as well as reducing wider spread of flu in the community. It is also really important that you get the right care at the right place by the right health and social care professional. If you need urgent care that is not life- threatening then call NHS24 on 111 and they will be able to direct you to the most appropriate care, which might be a minor injuries unit, phone or virtual appointment, pharmacy or A&E. As always if it is an emergency then you should call 999 or go directly to A&E. National Updates Demands on Health and Social Care First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has chaired a further meeting of the Scottish Government’s resilience committee (SGoRR) to discuss the ongoing pressures on the health and social care system. The group met on 13 January and assessed issues including the latest situation with respiratory infections, pressures throughout the system, and ongoing work to reduce rates of delayed discharge. Further information is available here.
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5 Additional Winter support for NHS Funding of at least £8 million for additional care home beds and efforts to boost NHS 24 capacity are among the measures outlined by Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to help the NHS and social care deal with ongoing extreme winter pressure. Health and Social Care Partnerships will share £8 million to procure around 300 additional care home beds to help alleviate pressures caused by delayed discharge. The funding will allow boards to pay 25% over and above the National Care Home rate for beds. This is in addition to around 600 interim care beds already in operation across the country. Further information is available here. National Carers Strategy A new National Carers Strategy will drive forward long-term changes to improve the lives of unpaid carers across Scotland. It follows extensive engagement with carer organisations, carer centres, local government, and unpaid carers themselves. The strategy recognises the challenges of the cost crisis and COVID-19 recovery and supports long-term change that will allow carers to care for their loved ones in a way that balances all other aspects of their full and busy lives. Further information is available here. World’s first online HIV prevention service People at risk of contracting HIV will find it easier to get pills to prevent infection as the world’s first online clinic is set to be developed. The pilot could make it possible for participants to order medication to prevent HIV from the comfort of their own homes. Further information is available here Delivering our balanced budget for 2023-24 We are working hard at present to deliver a balanced budget for the delivery of services in 2023-24. This will formally be presented to the IJB in March 2023. We will continue to work with our staff and our board in the months ahead of this to present the best possible options, taking into account the statutory requirements of services and how we can meet the specific needs of different localities. Communities will know from their own personal experience the increasing financial challenges experienced in 2022 have a daily impact. Those who have contact with health and social care will be aware of the reflection of the national challenges of workforce and the additional pressures this places on our existing staff. We are often able to mitigate national trends in Argyll & Bute due to the commitment and flexibility of our urban, remote and rural staffing. However, going into this new financial year I felt it was important to emphasise that we do require to balance meeting that challenge and that we may require to do things differently or plan to do them differently. We have communicated our shifting focus to prevention which is a long term investment. We will also have a renewed focus on governance ensuring we are delivering health and social care services safely and taking care of the staff who do
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6 this. We will use our GIRFE pathfinder status to explore how we offer services to all communities and take an equal and human rights approach to this. However in doing this we are likely to see change and a shift in how we use our finite resource. To enable this we will be planning an ongoing dialogue with communities to support this over the financial year. We can always better how we do this and I will look forward to working with communities to support our communication. Good News Carers Rights Day The HSCP was pleased to support Carers Rights Day on Thursday 24 November. This is a national event to mark the massive commitment made by thousands of unpaid people across the UK. For many people, looking after a loved one who is ill, frail or disabled is something they do out of love and because it feels like the right thing to do. The HSCP also recognises the outstanding work carried out by local carer centres across Argyll and Bute. The Carers' Centres are run by charitable organisations. They can arrange for carers who meet criteria to complete an Adult Carer Support Plan (ACSP) or Young Carer Statement (YCS) to help identify a wide range of information, support and services based on identifying adult and young carer’s needs. Violence Against Women and Girls is Everyone’s Business The HSCP was pleased to be working in partnership with the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) network. 16 Days of Action against violence against women and girls took place from 25 November to 10 December, to increase awareness of the need to tackle gender-based violence including domestic abuse. The Global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence against women is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991. Orange is the colour designated by the UN Secretary-General's UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign; it represents a brighter future, free from violence against women and girls, as a unifying theme running through all of its global activities. The VAWG network and partners theme “Light Up” continued in 2022 and aims to highlight the issue of VAWG whilst encouraging people to get involved using awareness raising and community-led activities. To support the campaign the HSCP has worked with partners to help organise Castle House, part of Highland Mary monument and the War Memorial in Dunoon and McCaigs Tower in Oban to be lit up orange on the 25 November, 9 &10 December to spotlight and share awareness that Violence against women and girls is everyone’s business and everyone has a role to play in preventing it. Oban Times Column
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7 The HSCP’s communication team recently held a meeting with the Oban Times to discuss a proposal to publish a regular column in the paper highlighting the work of HSCP colleagues, both within Lorn & Islands Hospital and the local community. The first column was published in December and focussed on the work of the consultant anaesthetic team at the hospital. HSCP Excellence Awards The HSCP will once again be arranging the annual Excellence Awards programme and ceremony early this year. Final details of the programme are currently being arranged with the aim of the Awards being an opportunity to celebrate and recognise the hard work of the people working within the health and social care sector in Argyll and Bute. These awards had been held previously but were paused in the last couple of years due to COVID-19. Appointments We are delighted to announce that after competitive interviews Donald Watt, Service Manager Resources, has been successful in being appointed as Service Manager, Health and Community Care. This is a new post for the HSCP that will support our integrated arrangements in adult services and provide enhanced support and leadership with a focus on Community Hospitals in particular. We all welcome Carol Jones, Clinical Nurse Manager for Older Peoples Mental Health and Beth Wiseman as Senior Child Health Manager.