Strategic Plan 2026-2030
North Ayrshire Council · 11 December 2025
Back to Integration Joint Board — 11 December 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Integration Joint Board 11th December 2025 Subject: Refreshed Strategic Plan 2026-2030 Purpose: This report presents the refreshed Strategic Plan for 2026-2030 and is seeking:- • Approval Recommendation: Approve the refreshed Strategic Plan, to cover the remainder of the Caring Together period, from 2026-2030. Direction Required to Council, Health Board or Both Direction to :- 1. No Direction Required X 2. North Ayrshire Council 3. NHS Ayrshire & Arran 4. North Ayrshire Council and NHS Ayrshire & Arran Glossary of Terms NHS AA NHS Ayrshire and Arran HSCP Health and Social Care Partnership SMT Senior Management Team PSMT Partnership Senior Management Team APR Annual Performance Report 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The current Strategic Plan ‘Caring Together 2022-2030’ has been reviewed and refreshed at the midway point, and this report presents a new Strategic Plan which updates the HSCPs priorities for delivery and long-term planning. The new plan will be in place for the new reporting period beginning on the 1st of April 2026, and following finalisation of this Strategic Plan a suite of documents to prepare for delivery will be developed in order to enable delivering and monitoring prior to this. 1.2 The proposed Strategic Plan replaces the current priorities of the Caring Together 2022-2030, which are Enable Communities, Develop and Support our Workforce, Provide Early and Effective Support, Improve Mental and Physical Health and Wellbeing, and Tackle Inequalities. It proposes a renewed approach, outlining Strategic Priorities for anticipating and improving future health and care needs, and Service Delivery Priorities, reflecting the current requirements for delivering services. 1.3 The new proposed vision going into the next 10 years, is: “To empower people in North Ayrshire to live safe, healthy and active lives with fair and equal access to sustainable health and care services”.
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The proposed Strategic Priorities are: 1. Supporting the Improvement of Population Health 2. Addressing the Changing Needs of an Ageing Population 3. Tackling the Root Causes of Health and Care Inequality The Proposed Service Delivery Priorities are: 1. Prevention 2. Community Based Services 3. Life Stages 4. Whole Person Approach 5. Accessibility and Communication 6. Evidence and Performance 1.4 The Refreshed Strategic Plan follows an initial review of Caring Together 2022-2030 which was completed in January 2025. A new plan was developed using the methodology outlined in paragraph 2.4, and a draft was presented to the Strategic Planning Group on 3rd September 2025. Following approval of the draft, a consultation on the draft plan took place between the 29th of September and 9th of November, and the final Strategic Plan was approved by the Strategic Planning Group on the 26th of November to be presented to IJB for approval and adoption. 1.5 Appendix 1 presents the final Refreshed Strategic Plan 2026-2030. 2. BACKGROUND 2.1 The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 (29-39) outlines a requirement for all Integration Authorities to prepare a Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan must: • Set out arrangements for carrying out integration functions • Set out how it will contribute to the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes • Include separate arrangements for (a minimum of 2) localities • Consider the integration delivery principles • Consider the views of the Strategic Planning Group • Consider other IJB Strategic Plans operating in the same area • Be reviewed at least every 3 years 2.2 The Statutory Guidance for developing Strategic Plans was revised and updated in July 2024. It outlines further information about what should be carried out when developing a Strategic Plan, including: • Consideration of local priorities in other local plans and strategies. • Consideration of the views of relevant stakeholders such as service users, carers, staff, third sector organisations and providers.
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• Development of a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment to analyse the needs of local populations and to inform and guide the commissioning of health, wellbeing and social care services within the area. • A clear recording and measurement framework so that there is an ongoing process to assess whether aims are being achieved. 2.3 The current Strategic Plan for North Ayrshire HSCP ‘Caring Together’ 2022-2030 is a long-term strategy for the area, developed in 2021 after a review of local data and engagement. This Plan was reviewed at the end of 2024, where it was concluded that the HSCP is currently operating in a different financial and operational climate than when the plan was developed. In 2021 the HSCP was in a period of recovery from the pandemic and in the last few years there have been a number of significant changes that have affected the way in which the HSCP operates, including financial, operational, performance and workforce pressures, and the development of the transformation programme and financial recovery plans. As a result, it was decided that the Strategic Plan would undertake a complete refresh. 2.4 PLAN DEVELOPMENT The draft Strategic Plan was developed between January and August 2025, and consisted of the following workstreams: • Strategic Needs Assessment: A review of national and local data was carried out in order to assess the performance of our services, local outcomes, and the current and future health and care needs of the North Ayrshire population. This is now available for wider use and will be published alongside the refreshed plan. • Engagement: At the end of 2024, an exercise was carried out which collated the results of engagement pieces from across the HSCP from January 2023 to December 2024. A total of 47 engagement pieces were collated which included events, forums, online surveys, 1-1 interviews, panels and workshops. A total of 2,887 people were reached over the 2 years spread over these engagement pieces. For the Strategic Plan, a meta-analysis was carried out, analysing what was learned across these engagement exercises, summarising these into key themes as well as analysing by service. Details are in Appendix 2 of the plan. • Policy review: A review of national and local policies was carried out to ensure the Strategic Plan was consistent with these and maintains the ‘golden thread’ from Government policy to local action. The review identified any national outcomes and prescribed services and goals, and existing identified local priorities. A total of 66 policies were reviewed through this process, the full list is in appendix 4 of the plan. • Service Challenges and Feedback: Throughout May and June 2025, services across the HSCP were asked to provide their opinions about the challenges they were seeing regarding delivering services, or particular issues they were seeing from service users that they viewed as a priority. They were also asked to provide areas of opportunity they saw from their services, either
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for service efficiency, joined up working, or new programmes they expected to see improved outcomes from. • Analysis: An analysis exercise was carried out in summer 2025 to reach the draft priorities using information collated from the strategic needs assessment, engagement analysis, policy review, service feedback and service performance information. It summarised the key themes under a range of headings, which allowed common themes to be identified for across the whole HSCP and regarding specific services. • Senior Manager Collaboration: Following the initial drafting of the new priorities, every service and senior manager was consulted to support the development of the activity outlined in the plan, either through service SMTs or individually. The draft Plan was presented to the Strategic Planning Group on the 3rd of September 2025. Following this, the draft was subject to 6 weeks of public consultation from the 29th of September to the 9th of November, where it was made available online alongside a public survey asking for feedback on the draft plan. The consultation was advertised via the staff newsletter, care improvement network, partners and staff. 30 people took part in the online consultation, which is a positive number for a draft strategy consultation given the requirement to read the full plan in order to participate, with the average time to take the survey sitting at 25 minutes. The highlights of the survey are included in appendix 2 of the attached plan, which includes that 77% agreed with the approach to have both strategic priorities for future service delivery and service delivery priorities for immediate delivery, and there was a minimum of 80% agreement across all priorities. 3. FINAL PLAN 3.1 The new priorities reflect a move towards focussing on health improvement and long- term planning to meet the changing needs of the population. This plan outlines two different sets of priorities: • Strategic Priorities: These aim to address future service requirements based on demographic changes and local inequalities and aim to better understand and assess how we may influence improved health and wellbeing. Strategies will be aligned to these goals and decision making will consider these priorities and impacts when implementing change. • Service Delivery Priorities: These reflect how services will be designed and delivered to address the health and care needs of the population. Service Planning will be aligned to these principles.
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3.2 Strategic Priorities: The three new Strategic Priorities are all interlinked and intended to reduce the pressures on the HSCP by anticipating future demand and aiming to improve outcomes at a population level. The Health and Social Care partnership will align its strategies, plans, and change projects to these priorities and will aim to carry out research into these priorities and create recommendations for future service delivery. The Strategic Priorities are: 1. Supporting the Improvement of Population Health 2. Addressing the Changing Needs of an Ageing Population 3. Tackling the Root Causes of Health and Care Inequality By focussing on these priorities at a strategic, organisational level, the HSCP aims to research and identify whether any changes to service delivery could lead to improved health and care outcomes. 3.3 Service Delivery Priorities: These priorities reflect what we have learned from data, service user engagement, national policy, and the perspectives of services about strengths and challenges in our health and care services. Decision making about new services or the change of existing services will consider these principles, and a Delivery Plan will be developed which will show how our services will implement these priorities and actions. The Service Delivery Priorities are: 1. Prevention 2. Community Based Services 3. Life Stages 4. Whole Person Approach 5. Accessibility and Communication 6. Evidence and Performance 3.4 Enabling Plans: The Enabling Plans are supporting plans that will help with the delivery of the Strategic Plan, however they are fundamental to supporting the way the organisation works, so they require separate planning and analysis which are delegated into their own plans. Although these plans are separate to the Strategic Plan, they do reflect the needs of the organisation, and the activity planned and developed through these plans will be reflected in the Strategic Plan Delivery Plan to ensure coordinated delivery of all plans. The Enabling Plans are the Workforce Plan (tbc), the Digital and Data Plan 2024- 2027, the Participation and Engagement Strategy 2026-2030, and the Transformation Plan 2024-2027.
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3.5 Vision and Values The Vision outlined in Caring Together 2022-2030 - ‘People in North Ayrshire are able to have a safe, healthy and active life’ - has now been in place for 10 years, since the inception of the HSCP. During consultation on the draft Strategic Plan in Autumn 2025, people were asked whether they felt the vision was an accurate reflection of the aspirations for health and wellbeing for people in North Ayrshire and asked for suggestions or comments where they felt it could be improved. The Strategic Planning Group took these suggestions into consideration and agreed that a new vision that reflected the future goals of the organisation, to maintain service delivery with dwindling resources, while being aspirational for the area, should be adopted. The new proposed vision going into the next 10 years, is: “To empower people in North Ayrshire to live safe, healthy and active lives with fair and equal access to sustainable health and care services”. The values were also updated following consultation and discussion and agreement of Strategic Planning Group members, from ‘care, empathy, and respect’ to caring, compassionate, respectful, and inclusive. People wanted the values to be reflective of the organisation’s approach to service delivery rather than how they expected to be treated by staff: • We will be caring, supporting the health and wellbeing needs of everyone with whom we work. • We will be compassionate, understanding the personal circumstances of everyone will be different. • We will be respectful, making sure people are seen and heard in their care journeys. • We will be inclusive, enabling access for all. 4. DELIVERY AND MONITORING 4.1 Following approval of the new Strategic Plan, a suite of complementary documents will be completed in order to clearly communicate how we will deliver and monitor the plan from the 1st of April 2026: • A Participation and Engagement Strategy 2026-2030: Outlining how we will engage over the duration of the plan to assist plan delivery and ensure continuous feedback from communities. This has been drafted and will be brought for approval in February 2026. • A 3-year Delivery Plan: This plan outlines the activity the HSCP plans to achieve over the life of the plan. A delivery plan will outline in more detail how this will be achieved through specific actions, including activity outlined in our enabling plans. This is in development with services and will be presented to the Strategic Planning Group in February 2026.
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• A revised Performance Management Framework: This will be developed to ensure performance management is coordinated across the strategic plan and related plans. This will ensure performance indicators are linked to the strategic plan and show how service delivery contributes towards the national health and wellbeing outcomes. New Indicators to measure the Strategic Plan will be presented to Strategic Planning Group in February 2026 and Performance and Audit Committee before adoption in March 2026. 4.2 The Annual Performance Report for 2024-25 currently reflects the Strategic Priorities outlined in the current Strategic Plan Caring Together. This updated plan is due to be adopted for the beginning of 2026-27, so the Annual Performance Report for 2025-26 will also reflect the priorities of Caring Together. Following the adoption and publication of this Strategic Plan, the Annual Performance Reporting format will be revised to ensure it reflects the updated Priorities of this Strategic Plan, which will be reported in summer 2027, to reflect the previous reporting year of 2026-27. The first Quarterly Report to reflect the new Strategic Plan priorities will be Quarter 1 of 2026/27, reflecting 1st April to 30th June 2026. 5. PROPOSALS 5.1 It is recommended that IJB: • Approve the refreshed Strategic Plan, to cover the remainder of the Caring Together period, from 2026-2030, • Note the activity to be carried out following approval of the draft plan regarding delivery and monitoring, • Note the reporting schedule which will align the updated priorities to the reporting period of the Annual Performance Report, Following approval, a copy of the updated Strategic Plan will be provided to North Ayrshire Council and NHS Ayrshire and Arran, as the new Strategic Plan for North Ayrshire Integration Joint Board. 5.2 Anticipated Outcomes The introduction of Strategic Priorities in addition to Service Delivery Priorities reflects a move towards long-term planning in terms of anticipated future health and care needs of the population. The strategic priorities aim to understand the root causes of inequality and how these impact health and care needs, population health such as healthy activity and preventative health care, and the impact of the changing demographics on our care services. Over the course of the plan it is anticipated these workstreams will lead to changes to delivery that will support the overall health and wellbeing of the population. The service delivery priorities aim to achieve a number of improvement outcomes, including a preventative approach to reduce conditions worsening over time, a whole
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systems approach to ensure other aspects of people’s lives are supported, continuing to shift the balance of care into communities to allow care and support closer to home, improved accessibility for different groups of people and improved communication about our services. The refreshed Strategic Plan and priorities align with the focus of the CHES programme being taken forward in North Ayrshire with local and national partners, where our plan focuses on making meaningful progress in closing inequities, closing the gap between policy intent and impact and focussing on data and needs and targeted approaches to tackling poorer health and wellbeing outcomes. 5.3 Measuring Impact A robust Performance Management Framework will be developed alongside the final plan which will show how we will evidence our performance, as well as monitor overall health and care outcomes in the community in order to monitor the longer-term impacts of our services on the community. A delivery plan will also be developed which will, outline what we intend to do over the life of the plan to deliver our health and care services. The Annual Performance Report will continue to report on our activity and performance, providing transparent updates to our communities and partners. 6. IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Financial The Strategic Plan considers the HSCPs medium term financial outlook and recognises the difficult financial operating context. The plan whilst aspirational in improving outcomes is also realistic and acknowledges the financial constraints, this will be further reflected in the enabling plans. 6.2 Human Resources The Plan outlines the Workforce Plan as a key enabler. And a new workforce plan will be developed in 2026-27 that will support the delivery of the strategic plan. 6.3 Legal The Strategic Plan is a requirement of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014. 6.4 Equality/Socio-Economic An ECRIA has been carried out and is attached in Appendix 2. There are no adverse or negative impacts highlighted. 6.5 Risk The risk register contains demographic, equality and workforce risks. The Strategic Plan aims to support the minimisation of risks through the planning of priorities and activity for the HSCP.
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6.6 Community Wealth Building None. 6.7 Key Priorities This plan contains proposals for new Priorities for the HSCP. 7. CONSULTATION Between January 2023 and December 2024, the Health and Social Care Partnership conducted 47 engagement activities, reaching approximately 2,887 individuals. These activities included events, focus groups, surveys, interviews, and workshops, and were carried out for a variety of reasons. The feedback gathered has been analysed and summarised into key themes, divided into two categories: overarching issues and service-specific insights. This analysis informed the development of the Draft Strategic Plan and the development a new Participation and Engagement Strategy, which will accompany the Strategic Plan launch in March 2026. Senior Managers were consulted to develop the plan regarding the issues and opportunities they were seeing across their services, and then again to support the development of the activity outlined in the plan to deliver the priorities. PSMT was consulted in July and August in order to inform them of activity to develop the priorities and gain approval of the approach. Strategic Planning Group has been consulted on the process of development at each meeting since March 2025 and were presented with the Draft Plan on 3rd September 2025. The Draft Plan was subject to formal consultation from the 29th of September to the 9th of November and changes were made to the draft based on the feedback that was received. Strategic Planning Group received the final Strategic Plan on the 26th of November for final agreement prior to this IJB meeting. Director: Caroline Cameron Author: Seony Ross, Team Manager Strategic Planning and Equalities, seonyross@north-ayrshire.gov.uk Appendices • Strategic Plan 2026-2030 • ECRIA for the Strategic Plan
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2026 Strategic Plan 2026- 2030 REFRESH OF ‘CARING TOGETHER 2022-2030’
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1 Contents Foreword ............................................................................................................................... 2 ABOUT US ............................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3 THE PLAN .............................................................................................................................. 7 How the plan was developed .................................................................................................. 7 Vision and Values ................................................................................................................... 9 Priorities .............................................................................................................................. 10 Enabling Plans ..................................................................................................................... 28 Locality Planning .................................................................................................................. 31 DELIVERING THE PLAN ........................................................................................................ 33 Finance ............................................................................................................................... 33 Commissioning .................................................................................................................... 36 Delivery and Monitoring ........................................................................................................ 38 WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP ................................................................................................. 41 APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................... 44 Appendix 1: Lead Partnership Statement ............................................................................... 44 Appendix 2: Consultation Statement ..................................................................................... 51 Appendix 3: Summary of Housing Contribution Statement ..................................................... 54 Appendix 4: Full List of Policies Reviewed ............................................................................. 58
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2 Foreword North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership deliver integrated health, care and social work services across our communities in North Ayrshire, ensuring care is delivered closer to home. We first published ‘Caring Together 2022-2030’ as a long-term plan outlining our ambitions for improving health and wellbeing of residents in North Ayrshire in an uncertain period of recovering from the pandemic. Over the course of 2025, we have developed and published a new Strategic Needs Assessment which outlines data and information about people’s health and care needs in North Ayrshire and identifies areas where outcomes are poorer locally. We have also considered the newly published national Population Health Framework 2025-2035 and Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework 2025-2035 in the development of our priorities, to ensure our services and priorities are contributing to the overall goals to make Scotland healthier and to keep people independent and well. We are proud of our approach to engaging and listening to our communities and have reviewed engagement feedback collected over the last two years to identify what people consider to be priorities for delivering services, and where people feel like changes need to be made. We have asked staff across our services what they consider the key challenges to be and considered and also taken into account feedback we have received from partners and communities. This refreshed Strategic Plan for 2026 to 2030 sets out a renewed dual-priority approach to delivering services in line with new Service Delivery Priorities to meet the current needs of our communities within an increasingly challenging financial context, and new Strategic Priorities which will consider future needs and how we may need to transform our services to meet the needs of our changing demographics. Alongside this refreshed Strategic Plan, we are developing a Delivery Plan which will outline how we will work with communities and partners to deliver these priorities, and a new Performance Framework which will measure and evidence the success of the plan. Our new Strategic Plan sets out a clear vision and priorities to support our focus on reducing inequalities in North Ayrshire. We are committed partners in the Collaboration for Health Equity in Scotland (CHES) for North Ayrshire with national partners committed to closing the gap between policy gap and intent in our local area and making real progress in tacking inequalities for our residents. Through this renewed focus and aligned priorities, we aim to work with our communities and partners, to listen to our communities, and to deliver local health and care services that are sustainable for the future. Caroline Cameron Caroline Cameron, Director, North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership Chief Officer, North Ayrshire Integration Joint Board
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3 ABOUT US Introduction The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 (integration legislation) introduced health and social care partnerships which would be responsible for delivering integrated health and social care in order to reduce organisational barriers to joint working for people in receipt of care. There are 31 Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) across Scotland, with each delivering some services in their area, delegated by the Local Authority and the local Health Board in accordance with the local Integration Scheme. The Strategic Plan is a requirement of the legislation, for the purpose of setting out the arrangements for carrying out the integration functions for the area and setting out how the HSCP will contribute to the national health and wellbeing outcomes. North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) provides integrated health and care services to residents of North Ayrshire, as outlined in the Integration scheme. North Ayrshire Services • Adult Community Mental Health: community teams, suicide prevention • Adult Social Work: hospital and community, sensory impairment, adult protection • Alcohol and Drugs Services: North Ayrshire Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service • Allied Health Professionals: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, speech and language, dietetics, enhanced intermediate care • Care at Home: home support, telecare, reablement • Carer’s Support Services • Children’s Health: health visiting, school nursing Integration Delivery Principles: Services Should - • Be integrated from the point of view of service-users • Take account of the particular needs of different service-users • Take account of the particular needs of service-users in different parts of the area in which the service is being provided • Take account of the particular characteristics and circumstances of different service-users • Respect the rights of service-users • Take account of the dignity of service-users • Take account of the participation by service-users in the community in which service-users live • Protect and improve the safety of service-users • Improve the quality of the service • Be planned and led locally in a way which is engaged with the community • Best anticipate needs and prevents them arising, and • Make the best use of the available facilities, people and other resources.
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4 • Children’s Mental Health: Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) north locality team, neurodiverse CAMHS • Children’s social work: locality social work, child protection, care experience, children’s residences • Clinical Nursing services • Community Link Workers • Criminal Justice services • Learning Disability Services: day services, residential care, and respite Lead Partnership Services North Ayrshire HSCP has lead partnership responsibility for delivering specialist and in-patient Mental Health Services and some children’s health services on behalf of NHS Ayrshire and Arran on a Pan-Ayrshire basis, meaning they are for residents of North, East and South Ayrshire. • Adult Mental Health Unscheduled care services: emergency mental health, assessment hub, liaison and intensive community teams • Alcohol and Drugs: Alcohol and Drug residential service, prevention and service support • Children’s Health: immunisations and infant feeding services • Children’s Mental Health: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service North Locality team) (CAMHS), Neurodiverse CAMHS, Urgent Assessment and Intensive Treatment • Community Eating Disorder Service (CEDS) • Inpatient Mental Health: Woodland View community hospital wards, Warrix Avenue community rehabilitation (centre) facility, Elderly (acute) Hospital Based Complex Continuing Care at Ailsa Hospital, Acorn day activity service, Community Forensic Services • Perinatal, Infant, Maternity & Neonatal Mental Health Services • Psychological services North Ayrshire Integration Joint Board The Integration Joint Board (IJB) is the constituted legal governing body of North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership and is the decision-making board of the Health and Social Care Partnership. It is responsible for the strategic direction, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Partnership by making decisions in relation to services, strategic planning, and finances. The membership of the IJB is outlined within the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, and consists of: • North Ayrshire Council Elected members (voting members) • NHS Ayrshire and Arran Non-Executive Members (voting members) • Professional Advisers – NAHSCP Staff • Service user, carer, and partner representatives Meetings are public and recorded, and papers can be found online. Strategic Planning Group The Strategic Planning Group is also required by integration legislation for the purpose of supporting the development of the Strategic Plan on behalf of the IJB, providing oversight of the implementation of the plan, and providing advice and support on the Strategic Direction of the
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5 HSCP to the IJB. The group consists of senior managers, partners, and professional leads, and meets quarterly to monitor progress of the plan’s development and delivery.
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6 Draft Strategic Plan Vision “To empower people in North Ayrshire to live safe, healthy and active lives with fair and equal access to sustainable health and care services” Values Strategic Priorities Priorities for Service Delivery Enabling Workstreams Supporting the Improvement of Population Health Addressing the Changing Needs of an Ageing Population Tackling the Root Causes of Health Inequality Workforce Digital Participation Transformation
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7 THE PLAN How the plan was developed This Draft Strategic Plan refreshes the current Strategic Plan: Caring Together 2022-2030. Although it was due to be in place for an 8-year period, the IJB is required to review it every 3 years. In December 2024 the plan was reviewed against updated Strategic Planning Statutory Guidance, to assess how well it had achieved its objectives, met performance targets, and if there was evidence of improved outcomes. Following this evaluation, the Strategic Planning Group decided that a refreshed plan was required in order to reflect the current circumstances under which the HSCP is operating, which were considered to be significantly different to when Caring Together was developed. Caring Together was developed in 2021, during Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, and when priorities were focussed on recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. Activity to refresh the Strategic Plan commenced in January 2025. Strategic Needs Assessment A review of national and local data was carried out in order to assess the performance of our services, local outcomes, and the current and future health and care needs of the North Ayrshire population. The needs assessment researched demographics and population changes, general health, mental health, substance use, disability, hospital care, community care, pregnancy and children, justice, economy and inequality. The Strategic Needs Assessment was carried out between January and August 2025, and the full document and a summary will be made available on the HSCP website. Engagement Engagement is carried out on a regular basis in the Health and Social Care Partnership, whether for specific purposes such as consultation on a decision or service, or through ongoing engagement, such as Locality Planning or What Matters to You. The Health and Social Care Partnership aims to continually build on our knowledge and understanding of the experience of service users by ensuring their feedback is used to continuously improve services and functions, so their views count for more than a single engagement exercise. At the end of 2024, an exercise was carried out which collated the results of all pieces of engagement across the HSCP from January 2023 to December 2024. A total of 47 engagement pieces were collated which includes events, forums, online surveys, 1-1 interviews, panels and workshops. Approximately 2,887 people were reached over the 2 years spread over these engagement pieces. For the Strategic Plan, a meta-analysis was carried out, analysing what was learned across these engagement exercises, summarising these into key themes and analysing by service. It was felt we could learn more from feedback by looking at everything people contributed over this time, than we could from carrying out a single engagement exercise for the purpose of developing the plan.
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8 A report of engagement will be published alongside this plan on the HSCP website, and engagement will continue to be collated and analysed on an annual basis so we can continue to build our understanding of service user experiences. Policy Review A review of national and local policies was carried out to ensure the Strategic Plan was consistent with these and maintained the ‘golden thread’ from Government policy to local action. The review identified any national outcomes, prescribed services or goals, and any existing local priorities committed in local plans. The policies were summarised by theme, including service delivery, health literacy and digital, children and families, older people and long-term conditions, carers, disability, mental health, substance use, justice, workforce and local outcomes. The Scottish Government published 2 new national policy frameworks in June 2025: the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework 2025-2035 and Scotland’s Population Health Framework 2025-2035. These outline the Governments vision for delivering health and care services and influenced the final proposed local priorities in this Strategic Plan. A total of 66 policies were reviewed through this process; the full list is available in appendix 3. Service Challenges and Feedback Throughout May and June 2025, services across the HSCP were asked to provide their opinions about the challenges they were seeing regarding delivering services, or particular issues they were seeing from service users that they viewed as a priority. They were also asked to provide areas of opportunity they saw from their services, either for service efficiency, joined up working, or new services from which they expected to see improved outcomes. Feedback came from a range of services across the HSCP which provided good insight from a cross section of the organisation. Analysis An analysis exercise was carried out in summer 2025 to reach the draft priorities using information collated from the strategic needs assessment, engagement analysis, policy review, service feedback and service performance information. It summarised the key themes under a range of headings, which allowed common themes to be identified for across the whole HSCP and regarding specific services. The final priorities and short- and medium-term activity were developed using this analysis, which has also been used to inform the Delivery Plan.
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9 Vision and Values Our Vision for North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership is: “To empower people in North Ayrshire to live safe, healthy and active lives with fair and equal access to sustainable health and care services” This replaces the previous vision which has been in place since the inception of the Integration Joint Board and the very first Strategic Plan in 2015, which was ‘People in North Ayrshire are able to have a safe, healthy and active life’. During consultation on the draft Strategic Plan in Autumn 2025, people were asked whether they felt the vision was an accurate reflection of the aspirations for health and wellbeing for people in North Ayrshire and asked for suggestions or comments where they felt it could be improved. The updated vision reflects people’s comments that accessibility, empowerment and sustainable services should be prioritised. The values were also updated following consultation, from ‘care, empathy, and respect’. People wanted the values to be reflective of the organisations approach to service delivery rather than how they expected to be treated by staff, which should always be with care. The Values of North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership are: The Health and Social Care Partnership delivers a range of services, working directly with people to keep them well both in clinical spaces and their own homes. We want to people to feel comfortable and know that they are safe and treated well in our care. To embody these values: We will be caring, supporting the health and wellbeing needs of everyone with whom we work. We will be compassionate, understanding the personal circumstances of everyone will be different. We will be respectful, making sure people are seen and heard in their care journeys. We will be inclusive, enabling access for all.
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10 Priorities The Health and Social Care Partnership is facing a challenging position, where our funding and resources are not keeping up with the demand for services. Over the last few years, difficult decisions have been made that have led to reduction in some services to balance the budget. Unfortunately, our current service model is unsustainable, and the new priorities reflect a move towards health improvement and long-term planning to meet the changing needs of the population within more efficient systems. This plan outlines two different sets of priorities: • Strategic Priorities: These aim to address future service requirements based on demographic changes and local inequalities and aim to better understand and assess how we may influence improved health and wellbeing. Strategies will be aligned to these goals and decision making will consider these priorities and impacts when implementing change. • Service Delivery Priorities: These reflect how services will be designed and delivered to address the health and care needs of the population. Service Planning will be aligned to these principles. Strategic Priorities The three new Strategic Priorities are all interlinked and intended to reduce the pressures on the HSCP by anticipating future demand and aiming to improve outcomes at a population level. The Health and Social Care Partnership will align its strategies, plans, and change projects to these priorities and will aim to carry out research into these priorities and create recommendations for future service delivery. The Strategic Priorities are: By focussing on these priorities at a strategic, organisational level, the HSCP aims to research and identify what changes to service delivery could lead to improved health and care outcomes. SP1: Supporting the Improvement of Population Health The Scottish Government published a new Population Health Framework for 2025-2035 outlining a broad range of actions which aims to tackle the drivers of ill health. It states that up to 80% of what affects health happens outside of the health and care system, and the framework sets out how national and local government will work with partners and community organisations to improve population health. The framework outlines that in Public Health approaches there are three recognised types of prevention: • Primary Prevention: Investing in actions at a population level that reduce risks or addressing the cause of a problem to prevent health problems from occurring. Supporting the Improvement of Population Health Addressing the Changing Needs of an Ageing Population Tackling the Root Causes of Health Inequality
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11 • Secondary Prevention: Actions focussed on early detection to support early treatment and reducing the level of harm. • Tertiary Prevention: Minimising the negative consequences of a health issue or condition through careful management. Primary prevention has been found to be 3 to 4 times more cost-effective than investing in treatment with every £1 invested in health protection worth £34. The health of the North Ayrshire population is poorer than nationally, and it frequently ranks near the bottom for health and care outcomes. It has the 6th lowest life expectancy compared to other local authority areas and current figures are 79.3 for females and 74.9 for males, both lower than Scotland and have reduced over the last 5 years. Healthy life expectancy is even lower-ranking, and deaths for those aged 15-44 is particularly high and is rising in the long term. North Ayrshire has seen a rise in the occurrence of long-term conditions in the population, higher rates of cancer and heart disease than nationally, and behaviours which can impact population health are more negative. For example, there is lower uptake for bowel screening and a decline in uptake for cervical screening. Smoking prevalence, although declining, remains high with 19% of the population smoking, the second highest local authority area, and the prevalence of vaping has increased from 9% to 12% in the space of 1 year. Smoking is a major public health issue in Scotland and a leading cause of preventable ill health, premature death and disability. Alcohol consumption has been identified as a risk factor for over 200 diseases, injuries, and health conditions and is linked to wider social and economic losses. In Scotland, male hazardous drinking is twice as high as female at 30% and 15% respectively, and in North Ayrshire male hazardous drinking is 41% compared to 14% for females. Drug use continues to be a local and national concern, with high rates of hospital admissions and drug related deaths in North Ayrshire. There are high rates of smoking during pregnancy, with 21.5% of mothers reportedly smoking during pregnancy—markedly higher than the Scottish average of 12.9%, and the highest of all local authority areas, which ranges from 3.8% to North Ayrshire’s 21.5%. This disparity reflects broader socioeconomic challenges and is a known risk factor for poor birth outcomes. Childhood immunisation uptake, although still strong, has been steadily declining over the last decade with the 6-in-1 vaccine going from 98.8% to 96.7%. Although this doesn’t seem significant, it is a higher decline than nationally, and it is a downward trend that could have implications for future immunity and disease outbreak control. Similarly for the MMR vaccine the rate has fallen from 96.2% to 93.1% over a 10-year period. MMR coverage below 95% threatens herd immunity levels – especially important for preventing measles outbreaks, and only 11 council areas in Scotland have rates above 95% currently. Encouraging a reduction in behaviours such as smoking, alcohol and drug consumption, and increasing healthy and preventative behaviours such as healthy eating and physical activity, social activities to improve mental wellbeing, maintaining active brain health, immunisations, screening and health checks can support a healthy population and reduce the need for interaction with health and social care services. A strategic approach to supporting the improvement of population health will consider:
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12 • Maternal and infant health, including breastfeeding rates, child healthy weight, and immunisations. • Population mental health and wellbeing outcomes. • Healthy activity, including promoting a healthy diet and physical activity. • Harmful activity, including harmful social media use, gambling, tobacco products and substance use. • Brain health and dementia prevalence. SP2: Addressing the Changing Needs of an Ageing Population The total population of North Ayrshire is currently in decline and is forecast to continue to decline. Between 2013 and 2023 the population declined by 2.6% and is due to decline a further 8.4% by 2043, from a current population of 133,570 to 122,334. The most significant reduction has been the 0–4 age group, which declined by 23.8%, suggesting a reduction in births or possible out-migration of young families from the area. Currently, 24.2% of North Ayrshire’s population is aged 65 and over, compared to 20.3% of Scotland’s. In the last 10 years (2013-2023) the over 65 population has increased by 16.05% while the under 65 population decreased by 7.37%, which has meant a growing demand for care services. By 2043, despite the projected overall decline in the population, the 75+ population is due to increase by 40.7%. This represents a significant demographic shift and equates to 17,147 fewer people in North Ayrshire under the age of 75, and 6,132 more people aged 75 and older. In addition to an increase in the older population, healthy life expectancy, which is the amount of time a person can expect to live in good health, is lower in North Ayrshire than any other council area. In North Ayrshire, male healthy life expectancy is 52.6 years, and female healthy life expectancy is 52.5 years, both the lowest in Scotland compared to other council areas and an overall reduction of 5 years over a period of 5 years. Long term health concerns are also increasing, with the percentage of people reporting a long- term illness, disease or condition increasing from 21% in 2011 to 24.8% in 2022. The top five physical long-term conditions are asthma, arthritis, cancer, heart disease and diabetes and all are more prevalent in North Ayrshire than Scotland. For those over 65, prevalence of cancer is 20.4%, arthritis is 19.3%, heart disease is 18.8% and diabetes is 12%. These figures indicate that the growing older population in North Ayrshire is contributing to higher prevalence of conditions which could impact ability to maintain independence in older people. Compared to other Council areas, North Ayrshire has the 5th highest percentage of carers relative to the population which could be due to the higher older population creating more need for care. Carers are more likely to be older and female, and the amount of unpaid care they provide is increasing over time and increases with age. Between the 2011 and 2022 censuses, reported unpaid care in North Ayrshire increased by 23.9%, and local insights suggest a growing reliance on unpaid care, likely due to the ageing population and increasing healthcare pressures. This increasing reliance on unpaid carers could have a long-term effect on the health of the carers themselves, who over time are reporting less positive experience in their caring role. The ageing population is having an increasing effect on the demand placed on health and care services, and the increasingly precarious funding situation is compounding challenges to service delivery. Waiting lists for care at home services remain high, delayed discharges and
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13 unplanned bed days continue to increase, care home spaces for older people have reduced by more than 20% over the last decade, and perceptions of care services continue to decline. The ability to continue to deliver services in the future will be contingent on the HSCP’s ability to adapt to these changing demographics, prioritising service redesign over minor budget cuts. A strategic approach to addressing the changing needs of an ageing population will consider: • Frailty prevention, mobility and balance in older people. • Unpaid care, enabling carers, and recognising their contribution to care in the community. • The impact of an ageing population on service support, such as ageing unpaid carers, foster carers, and ageing staff. • Housing aids and adaptations, and care home needs. • Care delivered closer to home. • Future proofing care services through resourcing and training. • Increasing complexity in mental health care and support needs for older adults, including neurological conditions. SP3: Tackling the Root Causes of Health and Care Inequality Health and care inequalities are caused by different social, economic, and environmental factors which are thought to contribute to around 50% of the unfair differences in health (Public Health Scotland). One of the most influential determinants in poorer health and care outcomes is poverty. People living in the most deprived areas across Scotland tend to have poorer mental and physical health outcomes, and greater instances of care experience and interactions with social work. Other health determinants could include barriers to accessing services, including rural and remote places, systemic barriers, including language, race, gender and disability, and behavioural factors, including participation in healthy activity and ill-health prevention. North Ayrshire has generally poorer health and care outcomes than nationally. There are high levels of deprivation with a total of 28% of all data zones in the area within the 15% most deprived in Scotland, most concentrated in Irvine and Three Towns. Around 40.5% of the North Ayrshire population lives within one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland, and only half of North Ayrshire residents consider themselves to be managing financially. The percentage of children in poverty after housing costs was rising steadily in the 9-year period between 2014/15 and 2022/23, from 24.8% to 29.2%. In the most recent year the rate has dropped back down to 24.3%, however this reflects a drop across the country as the child poverty rate in 27 local authorities reduced. Despite the national reduction, the poverty gap has widened between the highest and lowest rates of child poverty across the local authorities. North Ayrshire consistently has one of the highest rates of children on the Child Protection register, with higher concentrations tending to be from the areas of deprivation, and services are seeing an increase of families who lack the resources to assist them to have positive family relationships and lack basic amenities to maintain their home and participate socially. The link between child protection and social work demand and deprivation is a complex one and is not the only factor, but North Ayrshire sees high rates of child poverty, deprivation, child protection, and care experienced young people. There is a significant issue in relation to over- occupancy of internal children’s houses, external placements, and a national and local crisis in the recruitment and retention of foster carers.
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14 North Ayrshire's economic inactivity rate is 10 percentage points above the national average, driven largely by long-term sickness and family care responsibilities. 23% of the working age population is economically inactive, with 42.2% of that due to long-term sickness and 21.2% due to family or home care responsibilities, both higher than nationally. Nearly 1 in 4 economically inactive people in North Ayrshire want to work, which could highlight a latent workforce that could be activated with the right support, such as health or childcare. Welfare rights and debt advice by the financial inclusion service has increased, with twice as many self- referrals to the service in 2023-24 than the previous year. Poverty can also increase the risk of mental health issues both in terms of causing a pressure point and being a consequence of poorer mental health, and there is an understood correlation between living in an area of socio-economic deprivation and a higher risk of suicide. Financial and employment insecurity and family breakdowns can add stressors into people’s lives having a complicated impact on mental wellbeing. The same can be said for substance use, with individuals in the most deprived areas over 3.5 times more likely to be admitted for alcohol- related conditions, and drug-related hospital admissions 10 times higher in the 20% most deprived areas than the 40% least deprived areas. People with No Recourse for Public Funds have the right to access healthcare, however their status can impact their ability to access other publicly funded services and their ability to work which could cause greater inequalities affecting their health and care needs. Additionally, social care services have a duty to safeguard the welfare of children and vulnerable people, and North Ayrshire has high instances of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children who often require care placements. These situations can be unpredictable and result in high costs that are difficult for which to plan. A strategic approach to tackling the root causes of health and care inequality will consider: • The outputs and recommendations of the Collaboration for Health Equity Scotland programme, of which North Ayrshire is a pilot area and is working as part of a national programme to develop recommendations to improve outcomes. • Local impacts of poverty on health and care outcomes. • The link between poverty, care experience, and child protection. • Local initiatives to support families to access basic amenities • Vulnerable adults and wraparound support. • The experiences of refugees, unaccompanied asylum seeking children, and those with no recourse to public funds. • The experiences of different equality groups.
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15 Service Delivery Priorities These priorities reflect what we have learned from data, service user engagement, national policy, and the perspectives of services about strengths and challenges in our health and care services. Decision making about new services or the change of existing services will consider these principles, and a Delivery Plan will be developed which will show how our services will implement these priorities and actions. The Service Delivery Priorities are:
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16 SDP1: Prevention The Scottish Government recently published a new Health and Social Care Framework for 2025- 2035 and prevention is the cornerstone of the approach to improving the health of the population and the system around it. In North Ayrshire there has been a rise in the occurrence of long-term conditions in the population, higher rates of cancer and heart disease than nationally, higher unscheduled bed days and delayed discharges, and a higher proportion of unpaid carers which potentially means a higher proportion of people needing care. For children and young people, services are seeing increasing developmental concerns, increasing health concerns in primary school aged children, higher instances of neurodevelopmental differences, and increasing reports of mental health conditions. People report difficulty accessing some social work services, with some residents feeling they need to reach a crisis point to receive adequate support. Some feel as though there is an insufficient social work resource to meet the needs of the population, and services themselves report rising caseloads and insufficient support staff to support the social work teams. The mental health of the population also appears to be in decline, with self-reported perceptions of wellbeing reducing and self-reported mental health problems increasing, increased prescribed drugs for treating mental health conditions, and increasing suicide rates. Engagement suggests that accessing referrals to support can be challenging, with long waiting times and delays to accessing support, and limited availability of community-based support. Additionally, children and young people’s mental health services are frequently raised during engagement as insufficient, particularly in relation to neurodevelopmental difference, either due to waiting lists or lack of psychological support available once support is accessed. Primary care barriers are raised frequently with the GP considered the first point of contact for addressing an issue, but it is often also the first point of delaying treatment, as people find it challenging to access appointments. This strategic plan has set out a strategic aim to improve population health, which is the first stage of prevention. Although prevention at a community level is not within the scope of our remit, the HSCP aims to consider a strategic approach to our service delivery which could support this primary prevention. For delivering our services under this priority, we will focus on secondary prevention, so services will be designed around early detection of a problem and reducing the level of harm. For the long-term sustainability of our services, the HSCP cannot afford to prioritise the worst-cases to make the budget balance and instead must prioritise identifying an issue as early as possible to prevent deterioration. Short term activity • Continue to invest in early intervention support services so that families are supported to stay together and children are less likely to progress into further care experience or require further social work intervention • Ensure children’s social work teams have sufficient resources to provide practical and emotional support to children and their families, to prevent the need for further intense intervention and prevent negative or risk-taking behaviour from escalating. • Prioritise early-intervention support to minimise mental health conditions advancing further without treatment.
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17 • Continue to work with schools, youth groups, and communities regarding alcohol and drug use, providing education and support for young people to minimise the risk of problematic substance use. • Review and promote the availability of self-management tools and the benefits of preventative care to minimise deterioration of conditions. Medium term activity • Ensure clear structures in child social development and support pathways for children and young people that take account of their individual needs, allowing them to reach their full potential. • Optimise the use of diversion and intervention at the earliest opportunity in justice services. • Review available early intervention mental health support in the community to ensure people access the right services to meet their needs • Consider the capacity of the Allied Health Professions, to ensure they are appropriately resourced to be able to prioritise preventative care. • Consider current methods of early-intervention and monitoring conditions and look for areas of innovation to make improvements in delivering care. Long-term outcomes Fewer children are engaged with social services, and those that are, are supported at the earliest opportunity and provided with emotional and wellbeing support. People in North Ayrshire access care and support at the earliest opportunity, and conditions are managed early and effectively.
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18 SDP2: Community Based Services There has been an ongoing national drive to shift the balance of care out of hospitals and into the community and evidence of the benefit is already visible locally, with reducing admissions in the older population and lower inpatient numbers in mental health services. Providing care in the community has many benefits, including supporting a preventative approach by managing conditions earlier, improving independence and quality of life by keeping people supported in their community, and reducing costly hospital treatment. The care at home service, community nursing, and allied health professionals provide care in the community that allows people to remain at home for longer even with the increasingly complex needs being seen across the community. The Scottish Government has vowed to support the shift from hospital to communities by supporting local systems to improve community capacity, increasing responsive community home care support, optimising community rehabilitation and reablement services, expanding Hospital at Home, and increasing step down facilities that provide rehabilitation and prolonged periods of assessment. It also aims to improve access to GPs and other primary and community care clinicians. Children and young people’s services are hosted within the community as much as possible, with health visitors offering support and guidance for families in their own homes and communities, and school nursing and immunisations available in the community. Locality social work teams are based within their communities to provide support in or near home, and child protection and care experience teams aim to keep children within their own communities as much as possible. There has also been a shift towards community-based justice solutions, with an increase in community sentencing and reduction in custodies. The shift to community-based services comes with its own challenges, particularly in terms of resources. Teams across the HSCP report increasing complexity in cases, increasing caseloads, vital services at capacity, high waiting lists, and in some cases this is reflected in declining performance. Short term activity • Consider resources around community teams, monitoring caseloads and performance to consider where resources are strained and may need to be reviewed. • Develop a strategy to outline the goals for health and community care services to keep people in their homes and independent for longer. • Ensure a robust care service around hospital admission and discharge, increasing care in the community with an aim of minimising time spent in hospital. • Provide support in the community for unpaid carers, prioritising identifying people providing care in the community and ensuring their health and care needs are supported. • Continue to develop a range of innovative unpaid work projects and services that have tangible benefits for our communities whilst providing service users with opportunities to desist from further offending, provide payback and learn new skills. Medium Term Activity • Deliver coordinated planning at a locality level to consider the health and care needs of each locality ensuring local needs are met. • Review community-based mental health support available for low and mid-level mental health support.
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19 • Continue to review models of care for young people to shift the balance of care from external residential resources to family-based care. • Review provision on Arran related to social care and nursing to ensure care needs are met equally in Arran as they are on the mainland. Long term outcomes People can remain independent for longer, and more care is delivered in the community and out of hospitals. Children and young people with care experience are cared for closer to home.
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20 SDP3: Life Stages A life stage approach is about being mindful of the different major stages throughout life and ensuring that healthy activity, prevention and risk factors are planned for in terms of care, from prenatal to end of life. For the Health and Social Care Partnership, this means ensuring seamless pathways and transitions through services to ensure different stages of life are considered, and service experience does not change as people transfer between services in the care they receive. This includes a focus on early years to give children the best start in life and ensure they have the building blocks of good health and social skills, in order to improve outcomes from the start, and identifying and addressing the risk factors at key life stages. Common themes we have heard from service users include communication issues regarding unclear care pathways and difficulty navigating systems. Feedback suggests that some people feel as though there isn’t a cohesive enough approach regarding transitions between services, such as from adult to children’s services or from hospital to home, which can lead to drop-off from services and care needs not being met. Instances of neurodevelopmental differences are increasing, with many services raising associated challenges, including children’s social work, mental health, and justice services. Engagement suggests there is limited support for children coping academically but struggling socially, and for children in the low or middle range of severity. Untreated issues earlier in life can lead to problems in other aspects of life such as education or employment, healthy relationships and social skills. Similarly for children and young people with experience of care, the longer they are in care the greater the risk of negative outcomes in other areas of life. Engagement also raised issues that some people experienced with their loved ones when accessing end of life care. People shared stories about a lack of awareness of having access to pain medication for their loved one, lack of out of hours services meaning a bed not being made available for their home in their last days, and end of life wishes not being carried out. Short term activity • Ensure the health and developmental needs of infants and young children are met to give them the best start in life. • Ensure adequate support for people with neurodevelopmental differences, prioritising the critical points where people are more likely to experience disadvantage as a result of a difference, such as education, justice and employment. • Ensure systems are in place to identify and support older people who live with frailty. • Review current palliative and end of life care arrangements with an aim to make improvements across the system. Medium Term Activity • Embed the principles of Getting it Right for Everyone (GIRFE) with a multi-agency approach to health and social care support and services from young adulthood to end of life care. • Review care and treatment pathways where possible to ensure they are streamlined and well-communicated.
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21 • Ensure smooth transitions between services to provide consistent service delivery from the point of view of the service user, and in the most appropriate manner to suit the needs of the service user. • Investigate service gaps in relation to service-users that experience multiple health and care requirements, and work to address barriers to service access and ensure seamless care. • Ensure young people leaving care have well-planned throughcare and aftercare arrangements to support them to live independently into adulthood. Long term Outcomes North Ayrshire residents have the building blocks for good health and care throughout their life course, from pre-birth to older age. Health and care services are planned through different stages of life to ensure internal structures have no impact on the care received.
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22 SDP4: Whole Person approach A whole person approach considers not just the condition that is being treated, or the support they are accessing; it ensures that other aspects of a service-users life are considered in their care, whether it is family support, financial health, or wellbeing. We have heard from communities and service users that community-based and peer support models are invaluable, particularly in mental health and children and families contexts. Third sector and community organisations are consistently highlighted as providing meaningful, trusted support, often bridging the gaps where services are not available, and community centres serve as important access points for services and social support for tackling isolation, promoting health literacy, and connecting people to care. Cross-agency working and whole family support services are praised, particularly in children’s services, and multi-disciplinary teams in adult care are seen as effective in providing joined-up, person-centred support which helps improve care planning and family confidence. Community Link Workers are seen as a great resource, helping people to access extra support in other aspects of their lives, and the attentive follow-ups they provide are appreciated. For unpaid carers, the locality model offered by the Carer’s Gateway Service is highly regarded, and respite offered is seen as a lifeline to allow them to continue their caring role and look after their own health. There are areas of improvement to be made, with people concerned about continuity of care, particularly within the mental health and community care services. Patients report not being able to see the same professionals, and inconsistent follow ups. Parents report isolation, often feeling alone or unsupported, particularly young or new parents, and working parents struggle to access peer support groups. Some also report a lack of postnatal mental health support, though health visitors are praised for the level of support they offer. People report a shortage of options for bereavement support, and family support for those affected by substance use or mental illness. There is also a persistent stigma around accessing substance use services and a perception that the ADP is more for drug support than alcohol. Co-occurring mental health and substance use is an area people consider more resource to be required, and parents report a lack of support for coping with their child’s neurodivergence, particularly accessing support when they are undiagnosed. Trauma-informed care is mentioned across service-users, with desire for more training to ensure staff can consider personal circumstances when providing services. Short term activity • Continue working closely in partnership with the local Third and Community sectors, signposting to services and considering existing community support when considering new or changes to services. • Support service users to access support in other aspects of their life • Work to improve stigma in accessing mental health and substance use services • Continue to adopt a partnership approach to preventing harm related to domestic violence by working with victims, perpetrators, and families, and aiming to find family- based solutions.
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23 Medium Term Activity • Prioritise a family-inclusive approach through services, considering the service user, their families and carers. • Consider current and future options to enable independent living in the community. • Prioritise recovery-focussed care for those experiencing mental health concerns, conditions, or crises, and/ or those affected by substance use. • Review current throughcare services provided by justice services and work with partners to further develop wraparound support for those involved with justice services. • Embed a trauma-informed approach to service delivery to ensure service users experience compassionate services that consider their experiences and needs. Long term Outcomes People receiving care and their families can access the support they need in all aspects of life, including financial and emotional. North Ayrshire has a strong and independent Third and Community Sector with whom the Health and Social Care Partnership works to provide joined up care and support to the community.
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24 SDP5: Accessibility and Communication Over the last 2 years, the HSCP has carried out formal engagement with around 2,900 people through a variety of engagement exercises, and further informal engagement through conversations with service-users. The two biggest areas of feedback we have received has been regarding access to services, and the need to improve communication. People feel as though they don’t know what services are available, or they don’t know how to access them. Access to services remains the most consistent concern, with people citing barriers to timely and equitable access, especially in rural and island communities, long wait times, gaps in post- discharge and transitional support and limited out of hour availability. Diagnostic pathways, especially for neurodiverse individuals and mental health, were often seen as convoluted or inconsistent. People feel as though there are information and communication gaps, with many reporting confusion with navigating services due to eligibility, fragmented information, lack of follow-up, and unclear care pathways. Digital tools are viewed positively when people can access them, such as online prescriptions and wellbeing apps, but there is concern that this could limit equitable access, with older people, carers, and rural residents particularly affected due to digital literacy, connectivity, and inaccessible platforms. People report having to repeatedly share their stories to different practitioners, which can be emotionally draining and inefficient. Some groups may find accessing information more challenging than others, and improved information accessibility, such as using plain language, visual aids, translations, and audio versions, was viewed as essential to ensure all people, regardless of background or ability, can understand and benefit from available supports. Children and young people report that they find it difficult to access information regarding health and care and have suggested more could be done through schools to ensure they are aware of what support they have access to, particularly around mental health support. Short term activity • Publish information regarding the structure and teams within the HSCP to enhance understanding of team functions and services with the public as well as between services. • Review information available on the HSCP website and in community spaces, ensuring information is up to date and accessible, including language availability and alternative formats. • Investigate local barriers to accessing health and social care services in North Ayrshire and explore how to make them more accessible • Consider how digital tools can support wellbeing outside of direct access to services. Medium Term Activity • Deliver actions outlined in the IJB Equality Outcomes for 2025-2029, which aim to improve information and communication for specific protected characteristics. • Review available tools and resources available to the community outside of services to ensure people have access to information and support if they are not at a stage of requiring clinical support.
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25 Long term outcomes People in North Ayrshire understand the role of the Health and Social Care Partnership, what services are available, and how to access them. Information provided by the Health and Social Care Partnership is clear, and available in a range of formats to meet the needs of the community.
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26 SDP6: Evidence and Performance The Scottish Government published its first data strategy for health and social care, ‘Greater access, better insight, improved outcomes: A strategy for data-driven care in the digital age’ in 2023. It aims to make the best use of data in the design and delivery of services by making it more accessible and readily available for service-users, staff, and decisionmakers. The use of data is widespread across the HSCP, but it is not always joined up or shared, creating duplication between teams and services and a lack of transparency in decision making. Over the next 3 years, in terms of its use of data, the HSCP aims to make improvements regarding: • Using data to inform decision making • Using data to evidence performance • Using data to improve services • Using data to create insights To inform this Strategic Plan, the HSCP developed a comprehensive Strategic Needs Assessment to investigate how the demography and population was changing, how health and care needs were changing, and how our services were performing. We aim to continue using data to inform our planning processes and create a clear link from population insights through to service delivery through the use of service planning and evaluation processes. Another key focus in terms of creating an evidence base, is the use of engagement in the design and delivery of services. North Ayrshire HSCP has a proven track record of using lived experience to support the design of services, but at times services can carry out engagement where the results are used within the service but are not shared more widely which can lead to people being asked the same questions across different services. To inform this Strategic Plan, the HSCP collated all existing insights we have collected via engagement methods over the previous 2 years and analysed it for themes and prevalent issues. The aim is to continue to build on the knowledge we have collected by continually adding to the centralised engagement record through the engagement caried out across the HSCP. This could include HSCP wide engagement, engagement with specific communities, engagement with specific services users, or engagement with staff. We want to ensure that when people take the time to share their opinions with us, we use it as much as we can to inform the way our services are delivered. Short term activity • Develop a revised performance management framework for the HSCP. • Increase the transparency of our use of data and share data across services and partners where possible, to reduce duplication and enhance partnership working. • Develop a new Participation and Engagement strategy which will outline how and with whom we plan to engage to ensure delivery of the strategic plan and inform future plans and services. • Ensure that lived experience is used in the design and delivery of services and people are supported to participate in decision making. • Ensure people can participate in their own care plans and future planning to improve services.
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27 Medium Term Activity • Continue to engage with services and staff to understand their challenges and develop a new Workforce Plan to ensure sustainability of services. • Promote public engagement processes and online participation to ensure people can provide feedback on the care and support services they receive. • Develop service plans which will demonstrate how services plan to deliver the strategic plan, improve services, and respond to changing demographics and demand. • Carry out an audit of performance, data, and service quality reporting carried out across the HSCP and identify any duplication and areas of inefficiency in order to streamline reporting processes and ensure services are focussed on delivering quality services and improving outcomes. • Involve children, young people and their families or carers in all decisions/plans that affect them, including the design, planning, delivery and review of services. Long term Outcomes North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership can demonstrate clearly how data and engagement is used to design, deliver, and improve its services. Service users understand how our services operate and how their feedback is being used to influence decision making and planning processes.
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28 Enabling Plans The Enabling Plans are supporting documents that will help with the delivery of the Strategic Plan. They are fundamental to supporting the way the organisation works and require detailed planning and analysis so are delegated into their own plans. Although these plans are separate to the Strategic Plan, they do reflect the needs of the organisation, and the activity planned and developed through these plans will be reflected in the Strategic Plan Delivery Plan to ensure coordinated delivery. Workforce The last 5 years have presented unique challenges for the health and social care workforce across Scotland and in North Ayrshire. The Covid-19 pandemic created changing priorities, and we are still seeing the impacts with the backlogs created. The demographic shift to an older population has created greater care challenges, and the financial strain created by inflation, austerity and global economic challenges, has meant working in a time where more care is required with less resource with which to provide it. There are persistent challenges for the health and social care workforce that cause difficulty and risks in delivering services. The social care sector is considered to have a fragile workforce due to factors such as workforce demographics, ageing, burnout and wellbeing, and although the workforce is growing, the vacancy rate is much higher than across the economy as a whole. NHS staff also has high vacancy rates and the number of people leaving the health sector has increased since the pandemic. This Strategic Plan sets out priorities for service delivery which will impact the resources of teams, as well as strategic priorities which will look across the organisation at the way services are being delivered more broadly. In order to deliver this Strategic Plan, the workforce must also be planned for to ensure that we have the right resources in the right places, and that we are not creating pressures on teams that could lead to burnout, stress, or turnover. We want to ensure our workforce is well trained, adequately resourced, and feel supported to do their jobs well, within the context of the financial and service challenges we face. North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership published its 2022-2025 Workforce Plan in October 2022, which outlined the 5 priorities for workforce planning: 1. Plan: Understanding our Workforce 2. Attract: Promoting our Organisation 3. Train: Investing in our People 4. Employ: Building our Workforce 5. Nurture: Growing our People The Scottish Government published a Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework in June 2025 which outlines a how it plans to deliver the vision for health and social care in Scotland. This addresses that there will be impacts on the workforce, and outlines that it will work with partners to strengthen workforce planning to deliver services that are planned and designed based on population needs.
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29 North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership awaits further guidance around workforce planning in a national context and will work to develop a new Workforce Plan to support delivery of this Strategic Plan in 2026/27. Digital A Digital and Data delivery plan was developed in 2024 to enable more digital use across communities and staff, and address some of the challenges that remain as we work in partnership across different organisations and digital systems. It aims to: • Enable individuals and groups to access the health and social care services they need by providing digital access to information, opportunities to access self-management resources, and allow access to personal information. • Create digital care pathways that support early intervention and preventive care through remote monitoring and online assessments, including smart supports, AI, and robotics, and offer digital service options such as telehealth and virtual consultations. • Streamline administrative processes with the use of digital tools. • Enhance digital infrastructure to ensure staff across the NHS and Council have the access they need to deliver integrated services and have the foundational technologies to do their jobs well. • Promote digital skills across staff and communities and encourage the use of digital tools and transformation. • Work with community partners to improve health literacy and raise awareness of technologies that can support people’s health and wellbeing. • Use data analytics to drive change, improve services, and make informed decisions, including using data to identify and address disparities, inform preventive care strategies and early interventions, and improve outcomes for individuals and communities. The Digital and Data delivery plan will enable the delivery of the Strategic Plan by supporting the improvement of digital skills and digital technologies, which will support continued transformation and service efficiency. Participation and Engagement People across North Ayrshire engage with the Health and Social Care Partnership in a range of ways through their interactions with services. It can be through complaints or feedback related to their experiences of services, through surveys and organised engagement sessions for specific purposes, or it could just be in the conversations they have with clinicians or support staff. The feedback we receive from service users is an integral part of service design and improvement, as a way of understanding what works and what doesn’t work, where there are gaps or flaws, or where things could be made more efficient from the point of view of the user. It is essential that as we engage with our communities and service users, we consider those that may not share their views with as much ease as others, such as those that experience language or accessibility barriers, those that aren’t available during the day, and those that we haven’t historically sought the views of such as children.
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30 One of our service priorities is to use evidence for decision making, and this includes the lived experience of those accessing services, their families or carers, as well as the employees of services. The Health and Social Care Partnership will develop a new Participation and Engagement Strategy for 2026-2030, which will outline our approach to engagement at an organisation level, how we will enable people to participate in the design and delivery of services, and how we will use engagement to support the delivery of this Strategic Plan. Transformation Transformation is making best use of available resources to change services to achieve better outcomes and experiences. The Transformation Plan is an ambitious programme of change consisting of a range of improvement and reform projects across all service areas, each aiming to improve the quality of our services and contribute to the long-term sustainability of health and care services in North Ayrshire. It delivers measurable improvement by fundamentally changing how care is delivered, what staff do, and the role of communities and individuals. The Transformation Programme supports the delivery of the Strategic Plan by reviewing areas where there is the potential for improvements and efficiencies, which help financial sustainability in the long run. This allows services to focus on responding to the current and future health and care needs of the community set out in this plan. The current Transformation Plan was agreed in March 2024 and is in place until 2027, and projects are designed to consider areas to make savings or reduce overspend without compromising the quality of services, and areas of potential investment to make improvements to the way services are delivered. Major transformation projects in the plan include: • Brighter Pathways: the remodelling of children’s care options with an aim to reduce overspend by providing more local care options and support pathways. This aligns with the aspirations of The Promise, and the overall aim is to improve outcomes for care experienced children and young people and to provide intensive support to prevent family breakdown and children needing formal care. • Woodland View: Reviewing models of care within Woodland View, including reviewing high-cost placements, reviewing inpatient care options and reviewing the workforce. • Coming Home: reviewing complex care within the Learning Disability service. • Digital: reviewing options for using technology to improve administrative burden, care options, and efficiencies. The Transformation Programme is monitored via Transformation Board on an ongoing basis and will be evaluated and reviewed in 2027 in order to develop the next iteration of the plan, in line with the strategic aims set out in this plan.
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31 Locality Planning The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 is the integration legislation that outlines how a Health and Social Care Partnership must operate. As part of the Strategic Planning requirements, each HSCP must divide the area into a minimum of 2 localities and set out separate arrangements for carrying out integration functions within each locality. The purpose of localities is to enable localised services based on the circumstances and needs of smaller areas to ensure services are set out how they are needed, and to ensure local leadership for service planning, allowing localities to have influence on how resources are spent in their area. The Community Planning Partnership (CPP) also has a requirement to carry out locality planning, with the purpose of tackling inequalities and empowering community bodies to participate in decision-making. The IJB is a member of the Community Planning Partnership and therefore participates in this function as well, but the Locality Planning outlined in the integration legislation is for the IJB specifically because it is about ensuring services are meeting the health and care needs of smaller communities. In North Ayrshire, there are 6 Localities for the purpose of Locality Planning, both for Integration and for Community Planning. These localities are: • Arran • Garnock Valley – Beith, Dalry, Glengarnock, Kilbirnie • Irvine • Kilwinning • North Coast and Cumbrae – West Kilbride, Fairlie, Largs, Skermorlie • Three Towns – Ardrossan, Saltcoats, and Stevenson Arran Arran is a small island community and locality arrangements are long established within Arran due to the unique geography and circumstances. These arrangements bring together the Community Planning and Health and Social Care Partnership locality requirements into one Locality Planning Partnership, and the themes that are set out within the Arran Island Plan are the themes used for all locality and island planning processes. The Locality Priorities for Arran are: • Economy • Community • Environment Each of these themes has a community-led working group which feeds into a Local Island Plan Delivery Group, which in-turn feeds into the Arran Locality Planning Partnership. Mainland & Cumbrae localities Locality Arrangements for the mainland and Cumbrae localities have evolved over time and are currently under further review. Initially, each area had a Locality Planning Forum where local staff would come together to discuss issues and actions for each community, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, meetings were no longer able to take place in person, and the HSCP had to deliver services in new ways, which meant they had to focus on ensuring their service-users were supported.
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32 Between 2024 and 2025, the HSCP refocussed locality planning to be more engagement- orientated, to ensure feedback was collected from a wide range of people within each locality. • April 2024: Engagement events held in each locality with the general public. • September 2024: Targeted engagement with existing community groups with shared characteristics. • April 2025: Targeted engagement with children and young people including a survey and participation in the joint youth cabinet. Locality Planning Review Groups were also set up within each locality in order to review the results of the engagement as well as data from locality profiles and local staff insights. This process us currently being evaluated to look at options for better integration with the Community Planning Partnership and more effective use of resources. CPP Locality Partnerships For the 5 mainland (including Cumbrae) localities, the Community Planning Partnership has Locality Partnerships, which include officers from Community Planning Partners and community representatives. This approach was reviewed in 2025 and a set of recommendations have been proposed which include opportunities to better support locality planning partnerships, the form and content of meetings, and a renewed focus on locality action plans. The proposed next steps will build upon existing good practice to further strengthen the role of locality planning and the involvement of communities in local democracy. The Community Planning Partnership is currently working on the roll out of these recommendations. Each Locality Partnership has its own set of locality priorities which the Partnership works together to achieve and reports progress annually. Developing Locality Plans In 2026, following the adoption of the Strategic Plan, the Health and Social Care Partnership will review all available evidence for each locality to develop individual locality plans. These plans will: • Consider the available locality-level data collected through Public Health Scotland Locality Profiles. • Consider previous engagement through both locality planning sessions and engagement collated as part of the Strategic Planning Process at a locality level. • Consider the local priorities of each locality set out through the Community Planning Partnership Locality Planning Partnerships. • Align with the priorities of this Strategic Plan. • Consider the existing HSCP service arrangements in each locality. • Involve staff from locality services within localities.
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33 DELIVERING THE PLAN Finance The Integration Joint Board has responsibility for delivering services that have been delegated by the Council and the NHS Board in order to carry out integrated functions, and as such, is delegated budgets to deliver these functions. North Ayrshire Council and NHS Ayrshire and Arran provide funding to North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership in order to deliver the health and care services set out in the Integration Scheme. North Ayrshire Integration Joint Board has a duty to deliver these services while aligning the budget to the Strategic Plan. 2025-2026 Budget The North Ayrshire Health and Social Care integrated budget for 2025-26 is expected to be £335.731m (including Set Aside budget of £36.058m). This consists of £137.739m from North Ayrshire Council and £197.992m from NHS Ayrshire and Arran (including £36.058 set aside, which is a delegated hospital budget for unplanned care). Total net budget pressures for health and social care services total £14.943m, which includes pressures from pay deals, demographics, contract inflation, and employers National Insurance, as well as service delivery pressures. The table below summarises the projected financial position for 2025-2026, which includes the opening position, additional funding and cost pressures, projected planned savings, and the leftover projected position for the end of the year if further savings are not identified. NAC £m NHSAA £m Total £m 2025/26 Opening Position (overspend from last year) (1.055) (0.484) (1.539) Funding Increase 7.834 4.040 11.874 Service Pressures (10.680) (4.263) (14.943) Budget Gap (2.176) (0.893) (3.069) Projected Savings 2.903 1.116 4.019 (Surplus)/Deficit 1.163 (0.213) 0.950 Leftover surplus/ deficit 0.108 (0.697) (0.589) Since the budget was set there have been various budget reductions and increase to reflect budget changes and allocation of funds. This takes the budget to £340.8m at month 6.
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34 The budget for 2025-26 has been allocated for use as follows: The above info can also be split info: OR: Partnership Budget - Objective Summary 2025/26 Budget £'000 COMMUNITY CARE AND HEALTH 100,020 : Locality Services 38,874 : Community Care Service Delivery 41,771 : Rehabilitation and Reablement 2,136 : Long Term Conditions 11,529 : Community Link Workers 374 : Integrated Island Services 5,336 MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES 118,496 : Learning Disabilities 32,676 : Community Mental Health 8,924 : Addictions 3,926 : HBCCC 353 : Lead Partnership Mental Health NHS Area Wide 72,617 CHILDREN & JUSTICE SERVICES 42,224 : Irvine, Kilwinning and Three Towns 3,259 : Garnock Valley, North Coast and Arran 3,619 : Intervention Services 1,827 : Care Experienced Children & Young people 22,749 : Head of Service - Children & Families 1,363 : Justice Services 3,101 : C&F Health Team 5,426 : Lead Partnership NHS Children's Services 880 COMMUNITY CARE AND HEALTH 27% MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES 31%CHILDREN & JUSTICE SERVICES 11% CHIEF SOCIAL WORK OFFICER 1% PRIMARY CARE 14% ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONAL 3% MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT COSTS 3% LARGE HOSPITAL SET ASIDE 10% 2025/26 Budget
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35 CHIEF SOCIAL WORK OFFICER 1,983 PRIMARY CARE 54,721 ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS 11,504 MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT COSTS 11,819 OUTTURN ON A MANAGED BASIS 340,767 Large Hospital Set Aside Budget 36,058 MONTH 6 PROJECTION 376,825 OR £m % share Community Health Care Services 119,434 32% Social Care Services 166,612 44% Primary Healthcare Services 54,721 15% Large Hospital Services 36,058 10% TOTAL 376,825 100% Medium Term Financial Outlook A Medium-Term Financial Outlook identifies what the financial position may look like over a 3- year period. The Medium-Term Financial Outlook has been carried out for 2026-27 and 2027-28, but this has not been published in full at the present time as the Scottish Government intend to publish their Fiscal Sustainability Delivery, alongside a revised Medium Term Financial Strategy. It is also considering options for a Scottish Government Spending Review in 2025, following the conclusion of the UK Government’s multi-year Spending Review in late Spring. Following this, a full update report will be brought to IJB covering the period 2026-27 to 2028-29. The modelling which has been carried out across best, medium and worst-case scenarios for 2026/27 and 2027/28 is as follows: POTENTIAL BUDGET GAP 2026-27 £m 2027-28 £m Based on Best Case Scenario 8.130 0.658 Based on Medium Case Scenario 13.630 5.716 Based on Worst Case Scenario 21.436 14.698 The budget position for 2025/26 has proven to be between the medium and the worst-case scenario which was previously projected for that year, and it would be prudent to assume a similar position for the following years. For 2026/27 this would mean identifying savings between £13.6 and £21.4m. For 2027/28 this would mean identifying savings between £5.7m and £14.7m.
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36 Financial Risks There are a number of ongoing financial risk areas that may impact on the 2025-26 budget during the year, these include: • Growing Demand for Services and High service costs: Increasingly complex needs, ageing population, and overspend on low volume / high-cost services e.g. Children’s residential placements, UNPACs, and supplementary staffing across community, mental health and learning disability wards. • Staffing Costs: increase in Employers National Insurance Contributions, higher than anticipated pay deal (assumed increase of 3%, agreement of 4% for NAC, and 4.25% for NHS for 2025/26) • Service Delivery Challenges: Staff recruitment and retention challenges across a number of service areas, the expectation that performance will continue to be maintained or improved despite the significant resource challenges. The National Position Overall, the financial outlook for Health and Social Care Partnership is challenging with significant budget gaps across the country to maintain the current service provision (national budget gap of £497.5m for 2025-2026). Budget gaps for IJBs across Scotland range from 1.3% to 12.6% with significant level of variation. Many IJBs also have depleted reserves (national total at April 2025 £55m) and of those with reserves only one meets the best practice contingency reserve level of 2-4% of revenue budget. Whilst there are variations in the scale of the gap, the areas contributing to the pressures across the system are similar and include: • Increases in demand, complexity and demographics • Prescribing • Recurring deficits/ baseline pressures/ inflation • Pay pressures • Contract inflation for commissioned services These critical financial pressures facing IJBs have been shared by Health and Social Care Scotland with Scottish Government to seek additional financial support for community-based health and social care services. Commissioning Under the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, Integration Joint Boards are required to produce and publish a Strategic Commissioning Plan otherwise known as a Market Facilitation Plan (MFP). This MFP is aligned directly to this Strategic Plan, which aims to ensure the right social care services are available at the right time and in the right place. It will support existing and potential social care providers to make strategic decisions about their operations and investments by sharing data and insights into current and future service needs and how this will result in changing landscapes for social care. There are three fundamental areas of care within the HSCP: Children and Families, Health and Community Care and Mental Health. The MFP provides a breakdown of services currently being
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37 commissioned, drivers for change, current developments, and future commissioning objectives where they are known. It is worth noting that the details may be subject to change based on evolving need, objectives, and challenges. The Market Facilitation Plan will: • Detail how commissioning will support the Integrated Joint Boards to meet the strategic objectives outlines in this Strategic Plan. • Outline national and local policies which direct our commissioning and procurement practice. • Outline how the HSCP aims to ensure effective joint working with a wide range of internal and external partners to ensure choice, control and access to good quality care and support services. • Detail how our contract management approach will contribute towards market development, leading to positive outcomes for individuals and their carers. • Outline how the HSCP and others will support Provider organisations to understand the challenges care and support services face. • Identify areas where services are insufficient or where there are unmet needs, allowing for targeted support and development of services in those areas. • Encourage collaborative working between commissioners, providers, and individuals receiving care, fostering a more integrated and person-centred approach to service delivery. • Ensure a commitment to providers views being sought when developing new and innovative services that better meet the evolving needs of individuals and their carers. • Work towards ensuring ethical commissioning principles, and that services are procured and delivered in a fair and transparent manner. • Ensure that social care services remain relevant and effective. The Market Facilitation Plan is currently under development in order to align to the objectives and priorities set out within this Strategic Plan. The Market Facilitation Plan will be in place alongside the Strategic Plan from April 2026.
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38 Delivery and Monitoring This Strategic Plan will be published alongside a suite of complementary documents before the delivery period begins on 1st April 2026. • Participation and Engagement Strategy: Outlining how we will engage over the duration of the plan to assist plan delivery and ensure continuous feedback from communities. • Delivery Plan: This plan outlines the activity the HSCP plans to achieve over the life of the plan. A delivery plan will outline in more detail how this will be achieved through specific actions, including activity outlined in our enabling plans. • Performance Management Framework: This will be developed to ensure performance management is coordinated across the strategic plan and related plans. This will ensure performance indicators are linked to the strategic plan and show how service delivery contributes towards the national health and wellbeing outcomes. Performance As outlined above, the Delivery Plan and Performance Management Framework will go into detail about how this plan will be delivered and how performance and outcomes will be monitored. Annual Performance Report The IJB is required to produce an Annual Performance Report each summer setting out an assessment of performance during the previous reporting year. Regulations attached to integration legislation sets out the required content of these plans, which must include: • An assessment of performance against the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes (NHWBO), including: o A description of how the strategic plan has achieved what it was set out to over that year, including finances set out, in relation to the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes, o Performance against the Key Performance Indicators in relation to the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes, o A comparison of Performance Indicators in that reporting year compared to the previous 5 reporting years. • An assessment of performance in relation to the Integration Delivery Principles. • An assessment of performance in relation to the Strategic Plan, and any significant decision made outside of the Strategic Plan. • Information about financial performance, including total spent on hospital inpatients, other health care services, social care services, unpaid carers, and other care services. • Information about best value, and how the planning and delivery of services contributed to securing best value. • An assessment of performance in respect of localities, including engagement in localities, spend in each locality, and comparison of previous years. • Information about an inspection carried out of services over the year. • A statement regarding whether the Strategic Plan was reviewed over that year, and whether this led to a revised plan.
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39 The Annual Performance Report for 2024/25 currently reflects the Strategic Priorities outlined in the current Strategic Plan Caring Together. This updated plan is due to be adopted for the beginning of 2026, so the Annual Performance Report for 2025/26 will also reflect the priorities of Caring Together. Following the adoption and publication of this Strategic Plan, the Annual Performance Reporting format will be revised to ensure it reflects the updated priorities, which will be reported in summer 2027, to reflect the previous reporting year of 2026/27. Quarterly Reporting In addition to the Annual Performance Report, the Performance and Audit Committee monitors the performance of the HSCP on a quarterly basis. These reports also provide highlights of achievements and challenges over the quarter, as well as providing regular updates on performance indicators across services. The Quarterly Report contains: • MSG Performance Indicators: These are indicators that are reported to the Ministerial Strategic Group for Health and Community Care which outline how the HSCP is progressing against a range of whole system level measures related to unscheduled care and delayed discharges. • Service-level Performance Indicators: These are indicators that monitor performance within the three operational services: Children, Families and Justice, Mental Health and Addictions, and Health and Community Care. • Workforce Data: Absence rates provided by service and absence reasons across the Partnership. • Financial Information: including budget, spend and variance, by service. The first Quarterly Report to reflect the new Strategic Plan priorities will be Quarter 1 of 2026/27, reflecting 1st April to 30th June 2026. National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes Regulations to the Integration legislation set out outcomes that all HSCPs across Scotland should aim to contribute to. The Strategic Plan should outline how activity will support their delivery, and the Annual Performance Report should report how this has been achieved each year. The outcomes are: 1. People are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer. 2. People, including those with disabilities or long term conditions, or who are frail, are able to live, as far as reasonably practicable, independently and at home or in a homely setting in their community. 3. People who use health and social care services have positive experiences of those services, and have their dignity respected. 4. Health and social care services are centred on helping to maintain or improve the quality of life of people who use those services. 5. Health and social care services contribute to reducing health inequalities. 6. People who provide unpaid care are supported to look after their own health and wellbeing, including to reduce any negative impact of their caring role on their own health and well-being. 7. People who use health and social care services are safe from harm.
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40 8. People who work in health and social care services feel engaged with the work they do and are supported to continuously improve the information, support, care and treatment they provide. 9. Resources are used effectively and efficiently in the provision of health and social care services. The Strategic Plan Delivery Plan will outline full details of actions to deliver the priorities set out in this Strategic Plan, including how these will contribute to the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes.
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41 WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP The Community Planning Partnership Community Planning was first introduced in Scotland in 2003 as a statutory requirement to bring public sector organisations and communities together to jointly plan for services in each local authority area. The Community Empowerment Act (Scotland) 2015 strengthened this duty, placing explicit requirements on partners to work together to improve local outcomes and strengthen community rights and participation. Community Planning Partners include the local authority, local Health Board, Integration Joint Board, Scottish Enterprise, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue service, local colleges or university Boards, Historic Environment Scotland, and Skills Development Scotland, among others. The North Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership’s Partnership Plan for 2022-2030 outlines the priorities for improving local outcomes under the themes of ‘Wellbeing, Work and World’ to achieve its local vision of ‘Fair for All’. North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership participates in all Community Planning structures in order to work with local public and third sector organisations with the goal of achieving the priorities set out in the plan. In addition, the HSCP regularly works with partners to deliver our services to ensure whole- person support for our services users. The Third Sector Interface Third-sector organisations in North Ayrshire are diverse and play a significant role in supporting the community. They include charities, voluntary groups, social enterprises, and community- based organisations. In North Ayrshire, the third sector is vibrant and consists of numerous organisations serving the community. The Ayrshire Community Trust (TACT) and Arran Community and Voluntary Service (ArranCVS) work in partnership to form the Third Sector Interface North Ayrshire (TSINA) who assist with support and coordination of the sector. ArranCVS hold lead responsibility for the integration of third sector services, and staff act as a bridge between statutory services and the third sector, making sure teams and organisations supporting people in the community are connected to the right support at the right time. They link social worker teams, community link workers, health care teams and community partners to the local charities, voluntary groups, and social enterprises they work with to ensure services such as befriending projects and low-level mental health support are easy to access. Beyond linking services, they have a strategic role in bringing partners together, highlighting gaps or duplication, and helping design more joined-up care. By supporting smaller organisations with funding, governance, training, networking opportunities, and advocacy and by being a source of knowledge on the sector both locally and nationally, they strengthen connections and make it possible for community voices to shape local health and social care. In practice, this means that issues like loneliness, poverty, or poor health can be tackled through coordinated action between the NHS, the council, the HSCP, and community groups. The TSI makes sure the third sector is not just delivering services but also influencing how care is planned and delivered across North Ayrshire.
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42 Third-sector organisations in North Ayrshire can be grouped into several broad categories, including charities, voluntary groups, social enterprises, Community Interest Companies (CICs), advocacy and campaigning groups, faith-based organisations, sports and recreation groups, and Health and Social Care Providers. By working together, North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership, stakeholders and third- sector organisations can strengthen the health and social care landscape in North Ayrshire, ensuring the community receives comprehensive and equitable care. Commissioned Services Health and social care services are responsible for identifying and commissioning care and support services to meet the specific needs of their population in line with the Strategic Plan. This includes ensuring a range of high-quality, accessible, and responsive services are available which promote the independence and well-being of individuals while ensuring best use of resources. The Partnership commissions external care and support services through a Self-Directed Support mixed delivery model with a scheduled programme of tender and procurement related projects; along with a single purchase model aligned with user choice. The total value of Care and Support contracts the Partnership holds is approximately £41.8m annually, delivered by approximately 92 providers. Housing Services Housing is a key component of meeting the health and care needs of people in North Ayrshire. There are numerous different service-users that have specific housing needs that impact the way they receive care, for example: • Older people, people with physical or learning disabilities, or people with mental health disorders may require housing adaptations to allow them to remain independent at home. • Older people, people with physical or learning disabilities, or people with mental health disorders may require specialist housing in the community to maintain independence and prevent hospitalisation. • Older people, people with physical or learning disabilities, or people with mental health disorders may require specialist care homes for provide further care if they are unable to remain at home. • Children and Young People with Care Experience may require support from the Council and Health and Social Care Partnership to meet their housing needs, such as children’s homes, foster care, or throughcare support into their own tenancy. A Housing Contribution Statement has been prepared to accompany the Strategic Plan, which sets out the shared ambition between the HSCP and Housing service to support everyone living in North Ayrshire to have healthy and thriving lives. It outlines how the services will work together to support households with more complex needs, whether that be identifying bespoke housing or support solutions or prioritising repairs for vulnerable households. The Housing Contribution Statement identifies shared outcomes, key areas for improvement and how the HSCP and Housing services will work together over the life of this Strategic Plan to support its priorities.
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43 A summary of the Housing Contribution Statement has been included as Appendix 3, and the full Statement will be published alongside this Plan.
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44 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Lead Partnership Statement North Ayrshire HSCP North Ayrshire HSCP will continue to manage and deliver the following services on behalf of the East and South Partnerships. Mental Health Inpatient Services Mental Health Inpatient services across Ayrshire, including: • Acute inpatient assessment for individuals experiencing functional and/or organic presentation • Low Secure male inpatient services • Intensive Psychiatric care provision • Generic and forensic rehabilitation services, including community-based provision at Warrix Avenue, Irvine • Hospital Based Complex Continuing Care for individuals 65 and over on Ailsa site • Inpatient addiction service, offering inpatient detoxification programme, residential and day attendance rehabilitation programme Also included within the inpatient portfolio of services are: • Community Forensic Team • Acorn – service based at Ailsa offering structured activity, sheltered employment opportunity and supporting individuals who have/are experiencing mental disorder to develop a range of skills Inpatient services are split between Woodland View on Ayrshire Central Hospital site in Irvine and on Ailsa Hospital site in Ayr, the majority of adult services being based at the new bespoke provision within Woodland View. Pan Ayrshire Mental Health Unscheduled Care Service The Pan Ayrshire Unscheduled Care Mental Health Service is operationally managed by the North Ayrshire HSCP, however has bases and touchdown points within East and South HSCP as well as its mainland Acute and Community Hospital sites. The following teams are included: • Intensive CPN Team • Mental Health Liaison Team • Alcohol & Drug Liaison Team • Elderly Mental Health Liaison Team • Mental Health Advanced Nurse Practitioner Team • The Emergency Services Pathway falls within this service and is supported by the above teams. This pathway is operational 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days of the year and provides a professional-to-professional response to our colleagues from Police Scotland and Scottish Ambulance Services.
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45 • The Mental Health Unscheduled Care Assessment Hub within Woodland View (Ward 7B) will also be supported and manned by the staff from the above teams. This service will provide an alternative setting of intensive assessment for adults aged 18-65 who would have been previously admitted to adult acute admission wards at Woodland View. Psychology Services Psychological Services are provided across Ayrshire and Arran and are embedded within various specialist teams. Specialities covered are: • Child Psychology • Community Paediatric psychology • Medical Paediatric psychology • Infant Mental Health • Perinatal Mental Health • Adult Mental Health • Older Adults • Clinical Health psychology • Neuropsychology • Staff Wellbeing service • Learning disability services • Adult Forensic psychology • Adult Inpatient psychology • NASIS • Addictions psychological service • Eating Disorders Psychological service • V1P Veteran Service The service deploys a range of staff within these specialist roles to undertake focused work and leadership roles. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) The CAMHS service is a specialist Pan Ayrshire mental health services providing assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for young people with mental health conditions. CAMHS deliver services in line with the National CAMHS Specification published Sept 2021. CAMHS teams include: • Specialist Community CAMHS (SCCAMHS) • CAMHS Unscheduled and Intensive Treatment (CUAIT) Team • Neurodiverse-CAMHS (N-CAMHS) Community Eating Disorder Service (CEDS) Community Eating Disorder Services provide a Pan Ayrshire life span service for individuals experiencing an eating disorder such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa who require intensive community treatment, CEDS also provide input to acute inpatient services.
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46 Ayrshire & Arran Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service The Ayrshire & Arran Perinatal Team is a specialist, tertiary care community mental health service offering assessment, diagnosis and treatment to individuals in the perinatal period across Ayrshire. The team works with women who wish to start a family but are at risk of becoming severely mentally unwell. The service also treats women who are pregnant or in the post-natal period and have severe mental illness or are at high risk of becoming severely unwell. The Infant Mental Health Team “Mini Minds Matter” focus on both indirect and direct work. Indirect work includes teaching, training, consultation, supervision, reflective practice, and strategic input; a focus is on upskilling the other member of the IMH system. Direct work will include evidence-based assessment and intervention approaches (once appropriate clinical space has been found). In addition, North Ayrshire has lead responsibility for the following Early Years Services: Children’s Immunisation Team The routine childhood vaccination schedule for pre-school children is delivered by locality- based teams in East, South and North Ayrshire. The schedule for school aged children is co- ordinated and delivered on a pan-Ayrshire basis by the school immunisation team based in North Ayrshire. Community Infant Feeding Service A pan-Ayrshire Community Infant Feeding Nurse post works across Ayrshire to provide a specialist service to families requiring more specialist support due to complex feeding challenges. The service supports health visiting and Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) staff with advice, and provides direct support to families via telephone, face to face discussions or home visits. The role also plays a critical part in taking forward strategic work in relation to breastfeeding including the UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation. Child Health Administration Child Health Administration team co-ordinates, manages and supports the delivery of Ayrshire’s child immunisation programme and development screening programmes. The team maintains all records and information in relation to its remit and provides information to the Information Statistics Division (ISD) via nationally established data systems. East Ayrshire HSCP East Ayrshire HSCP will continue to manage and deliver primary care services across Ayrshire and Arran through Lead HSCP arrangements on behalf of the North and South Health and Social Care Partnerships: • General medical services • Community pharmacy • Community Optometry • Dental Services: General Dental Service and the Public Dental Service • Ayrshire Urgent Care Service In addition NHS Ayrshire & Arran directly commission East Ayrshire HSCP to conduct Primary Care Contracting on behalf of the Board. The vision for Primary Care services in Ayrshire and
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47 Arran is to have sustainable, safe, effective and person-centred services, which will be delivered in partnership between communities, Primary Care, Health and Social Care Partnerships and the Acute, Third and Independent Sectors. The Ayrshire and Arran vision aligns to the Scottish Government’s vision for the future of Primary Care service delivery, which is for multi- disciplinary teams, comprising a variety of health professionals, to work together to support people in the community. General Medical Services Primary Care is usually a patient’s first point of contact and it is estimated that around 90% of NHS contacts take place within general practice. There are 53 GP practices across Ayrshire and Arran who all operate as separate independent businesses in their own right. General practice brings a range of healthcare services to work alongside people and families in local communities. To help strengthen this, a new control was introduced in 2018 to facilitate a refocusing of the GP role as Expert Medical Generalist (EMG). This is still being delivered locally through the Primary Care Improvement Plan (PCIP). This integrated health and care model brings a number of additional professionals into general practice, including: nursing staff, pharmacists, mental health practitioners, MSK physiotherapists and community link workers to promote the GP role as an EMG within the practice team. In addition, patients are also signposted, where appropriate, to other primary healthcare professionals within the community. The Macmillan Improving the Cancer Journey service will become a key partner providing primary healthcare in the community by supporting the clinical and social needs of people, families and carers affected by cancer diagnoses. This aligns to the Caring for Ayrshire vision which focusses on individuals, families and communities with general practice and primary care providing accessible, continuing and co-ordinated care. Community Pharmacy NHS Pharmacy First Scotland was introduced in July 2020, replacing the local Minor Ailments Service. This service is delivered by every pharmacy in Scotland and is primarily a consultation- based service, designed to encourage the use of community pharmacy as the first port of call for all minor illnesses and common clinical conditions. An increasing number of Community Pharmacists are qualified Prescribers and can provide advice, care and treatment where appropriate, often without the need for an appointment. This offers people an alternative way to access care close to home at a time suitable to them rather than the need to see their GP. Community Optometry Community Optometrists provide a first point of treatment for minor eye ailments. If people require medicine for an eye problem this is provided free of charge from the community pharmacy through Pharmacy First Scotland. Community Optometry provides a range of services in addition to routine eye examinations and dispensing glasses etc. Optometry practices can carry out post-operative cataract reviews, some are accredited to undertake Diabetic Eye Screening and some provide the Low Vision Aid service. Geographical access to eye care at optometrist practices across all HSCPs in Ayrshire & Arran is good. Some fixed site practices also provide a domiciliary service and further coverage is available from large mobile optometry providers, which offers a service to those who are unable to access high street practices for their eye care needs.
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48 A number of Community Optometrists are becoming independent prescribers. These contractors are able to manage and treat a wider range of presenting eye conditions within the scope of their practice and in the community setting. Recently Community Optometrists were given increased digital access to clinical systems to enhance patient access and information sharing with secondary care services. This reduces the need for urgent referrals into secondary care services and supports the national Right Person, Right Place campaign. Dental Services NHS General Dental Services (GDS) is typically the first point of contact for NHS dental treatment for patients within the community. People register with a dentist in order to receive the full range of NHS treatment available under GDS. The Public Dental Service (PDS) acts as both a specialised and safety-net service providing care for individuals who are unable to obtain care through the GDS such as those with special care needs or patients living in areas where there were few NHS dentists providing GDS. The PDS provides out of hours dental care and a range of programmes supporting health inequality and dental education is also incorporated within the service. Oral health prevention is a key priority across Ayrshire and Arran. The Scottish Government published the Oral Health Improvement Plan (OHIP) in January 2018. The aims of the OHIP are to focus on prevention, encouraging a more preventive approach to oral health care for patients of all ages to ensure that everyone can have the best oral health possible and that education and information sharing is specifically targeted at individuals and groups most at risk such as those who do not attend regularly for check-ups, communities in low income areas and particularly those people who either smoke or drink heavily. The Childsmile toothbrushing Programme is a supervised programme also delivered by the oral health team aimed at helping children develop an important life skill at an early age, supporting positive development in their immediate social and physical environment. Ayrshire Urgent Care Service Primary Urgent Care Services are delivered through the Ayrshire Urgent Care Service (AUCS) which provides a 24/7 urgent care response to the population including out of out of hours General Medical Services. Over recent years, the service has adopted a multi-disciplinary integrated approach to out of hours services in Ayrshire bringing together Primary Care services, Social Work, and Mental Health services. AUCS operates from the Lister Centre at University Hospital Crosshouse supported by local primary care treatment centres based at University Hospital Ayr and Ayrshire Central Hospital in Irvine and the home visiting service as required for patients who need urgent care when their GP Practice is closed. In partnership with NHS24, there is continued promotion of self-care and redirection to the most appropriate services, i.e. local pharmacists. As well as providing General Medical Services during the out of hours period, AUCS acts as a 24/7 Flow Navigation Centre (FNC) to support patients navigate through various community led urgent care pathways. These innovative pathways support an improved patient journey with continued focus on community-based services. The success of the new pathways and ways of working is a result of good working relationships across Ayrshire and Arran and wider system partners including NHS 24, Scottish Ambulance Service, Police Scotland, as well as strengthened connections with GP practices and Community Pharmacy. The COVID-19 Therapeutics pathway is also delivered through the COVID Treatment Centre within AUCS.
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49 Data from the service demonstrates the effectiveness of avoiding unnecessary hospital attendances or avoidable admission to hospital which has better outcomes for patients. AUCS continues to build on the unique 24/7 model which incorporates OOH and FNC through continuous review of all pathways to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness to create and sustain fully person centred pathways for all patients, getting the right care in the right place at the right time. South Ayrshire HSCP South Ayrshire HSCP will continue to manage and deliver the following services on behalf of the East and North Partnerships. Community Equipment Store The Community Equipment Store supports the provision of equipment, such as hospital beds, mattresses, hoists, slings etc., across the Ayrshire and Arran Health Board. As lead, South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership are responsible for oprational management and budget of the service. The service supports discharges from two acute hospital sites and rural/community hospitals, as well as supporting care in the community across the three Health and Social Care Partnerships. Community Equipment meets a wide range of needs across all care groups and ages, maximising independence and promoting functional abilities. The equipment provided enables children and adults to carry out the activities of daily living within their own home, including transfers, toileting, bathing and mobility. It can also offer specialist equipment solutions such as profiling beds, mattresses, seating and moving and handling equipment for people with more complex needs and longer-term health conditions, allowing them to be cared for at home. The Community Equipment service continues to be in high demand and has experienced significant increases in both deliveries of equipment and impact to budget. Despite this increase in demand the delivery times have improved, particularly for individuals requiring equipment at end of life. The store continues to have a focus to drive down lead times for equipment deliveries, whilst also enabling the ongoing focus on supporting quick access to equipment to avoid hospital admission, support hospital discharges and support individuals in the community. In January 2023, Scottish Government published “Equipment and Adaptations: Guidance on provision”. This guidance highlights the importance of equipment provision in enabling individuals to live safely and independently in their own home. Access to community equipment was an overarching theme referenced within the Caring For Ayrshire Rehab Workstream and has also been a key focus of the Palliative/End of Life workstreams. To adhere to the Scottish Government guidance and progress the actions required to develop the service, the Community Equipment Store has a number of key areas identified and an action plan has been developed. Key to this is the continued development ELMS, (Electronic Loan Management System) to manage and maintain stock, develop a more efficient referral system and improve service delivery. The HSCP is currently reviewing the demand and performance of the Community Equipment Store in order to promote efficient and effective management of the store and improve upon the support to the disciplines and communities who require its services.
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50 Continence The Integrated Continence Service promotes continence by empowering patients to self- manage through behaviour and lifestyle interventions. The objectives of the service are to offer intermediate clinics across Ayrshire and to offer an advisory service to patients, carers, care homes and voluntary organisations. Whilst also providing educational service to NHS clinicians. The service is advisory for all clinicians in Primary Care. This includes Children’s services, Health Visitors and School Nursing Teams across Ayrshire. Family Nurse Partnership The Family Nurse Partnership programme (FNP) is a licensed, intensive preventative home visiting programme. FNP focuses on helping first-time mothers, 19 years old and under) to engage in preventative health practices, supporting parents to provide responsive, sensitive, and positive parenting, and helping them to develop self- efficacy to both identify and achieve their future goals. Family Nurses in Scotland also deliver the Universal Health Visiting Pathway to the families they serve, alongside the FNP home visiting schedule. Family Nurse Partnership is a structured programme of tailored visits delivered by specially trained Family Nurses. This begins early in pregnancy and continues until the child’s second birthday. The three key goals of FNP are to: • improve pregnancy and birth outcomes, through improved prenatal behaviours. • improve child health and development, through positive, responsive caregiving; and • improve economic self- sufficiency of the family, through developing a vision and plans for the future. The FNP’s priorities that lie ahead are: • Started to roll out Motivational Interviewing Workshops for our Health Visiting, School Nursing and other colleagues within the multi-agency team. The motivational interviewing workshops for colleagues in other areas will also continue to be supported looking at a variety of ways in which these skills can be used to help explore different topics including breastfeeding. • The service is working with the Perinatal Mental Health service steering group to look at how it can best support clients both ante-and-post-natally with experienced trauma. • Developing a contraceptive champion model which will allow a Family Nurse (qualified in Family Planning) to deliver certain methods of contraception to clients within their home. This model is currently working well in FNP – NHS Lothian. • Continuing to develop our breastfeeding champion model by using new resources and cascading up to date learning and training to members of the team. The motivational interviewing workshops for colleagues in other areas will also continue to be supported looking at a variety of ways in which these skills can be used to help explore different topics including breastfeeding.
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51 Appendix 2: Consultation Statement Purpose of Engagement Engagement is carried out on a regular basis in the Health and Social Care Partnership, whether for specific purposes such as consultation on a decision or service, or through ongoing engagement, such as Locality Planning or What Matters to You. The Health and Social Care Partnership aims to continually build on its knowledge and understanding of the experience of service users by ensuring their feedback is used to continuously improve services and functions, so their views count for more than a single engagement exercise. For the Strategic Plan, it was decided that rather than do a standalone engagement collecting views for the purpose of developing the plan, we would learn from what people had already told us through their participation over the last couple of years. Service users, community members and staff have taken the time to submit their views on various services, strategies and projects on a continual basis, and we wanted to make sure their voices were heard and reflected in the development of the plan. Engagement Approach Between January 2023 and December 2024, the Health and Social Care Partnership conducted 47 engagement activities, reaching approximately 2,887 individuals. These activities included events, focus groups, surveys, interviews, and workshops, and were carried out for a variety of reasons. Engagement activities carried out by the HSCP reflect a commitment to inclusive, accessible design, with formats ranging from locality conversations and digital surveys to creative arts- based events, one-to-one interviews, and visual focus groups. Targeted outreach was delivered in partnership with local organisations, ensuring that feedback from seldom-heard voices— including unpaid carers, people in recovery, individuals with learning disabilities or neurodevelopmental differences, Gypsy/Traveller communities, and residents of rural areas like Arran—was captured. These sessions have strengthened the Strategic Plan’s foundation in lived experience and place-based insight. The feedback gathered has been analysed and summarised into key themes, divided into two categories: overarching issues and service-specific insights. This analysis informed the development of the Strategic Plan and will directly contribute to the development a new Participation and Engagement Strategy. The engagement analysis process revealed a shared commitment to improving local systems, alongside deep concerns about access, communication, sustainability, and inclusion. The feedback, collected from individuals with lived experience, carers, staff, and third-sector partners, identified several recurring themes and opportunities for action. To support inclusion, a range of engagement methods were used, including: • Local pop-up events, information stalls, and drop-in sessions • Focus groups with target populations, such as carers, young people, people with disabilities, Gypsy/Traveller communities, and Ukrainian refugees • Online and paper-based surveys • Thematic workshops involving staff and provider organisations
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52 • Digital forums and social media campaigns • Locality-based conversations • Creative workshop activities Inclusive formats such as easy read adaptations, visual workshops, and multilingual support were used throughout, alongside digital platforms, printed surveys in community venues, and in-person outreach to improve accessibility and widen participation. Who We Engaged We actively engaged with a broad cross-section of North Ayrshire’s population, including: • People who use health and social care services. • Unpaid carers and family members. • Health and social care staff. • Community planning and locality partnership groups. • Groups with shared characteristics (e.g. Gypsy/Travellers, unpaid carers, people in recovery, refugees, digitally excluded individuals). • Third sector and voluntary organisations. • Children and young people, including those with neurodevelopmental conditions • People with learning disabilities and their families. • Community voices from rural and island localities, particularly Arran and Garnock Valley. • The general public. Targeted efforts were made to reach underrepresented groups including rural residents, people with neurodevelopmental conditions, minority ethnic communities, and individuals with lived experience of poverty and exclusion. Key Themes from the Engagement Participants shared views on what is working well and what needs to improve. The most commonly raised themes included: • The need for improved access and shorter waiting times for services. • Better visibility of information and support for service navigation. • Greater investment in early intervention and community-based models. • Enhanced support for carers and improved transitions across life stages. • More trauma-informed, inclusive, and person-centred approaches. • Clearer communication and greater accountability in service planning. A full summary of engagement findings is available in the Engagement Report 2025, which supports this Strategic Plan. The feedback also forms the foundation of the accompanying Participation and Engagement Strategy, which will outline how we will continue to listen, co-design, and remain accountable to our communities throughout the implementation of the Strategic Plan. Draft Consultation Online consultation on the Draft Plan took place between the 29th of September and 9th of November.
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53 This allowed staff, service users, partners, communities and community bodies to comment on the draft and raise any additional concerns or changes they feel should be made. The consultation was advertised via the staff newsletter, care improvement network, partners and staff. 30 people took part in the online consultation, which is a positive number for a draft strategy consultation given the requirement to read the full plan in order to participate, with the average time to take the survey sitting at 25minutes. The majority of respondents were residents or staff, and participants could pick multiple options if it applied to them. 13 residents, 11 HSCP staff, 5 community groups, 4 third sector organisations, 2 providers, 2 other, and 1 community planning partner participated in the survey Summary of Results • 77% agreed with the dual priority approach • 87% agreed and 7% disagreed with Strategic Priority 1: Supporting the Improvement of Population Health • 93% agreed and 3% disagreed with Strategic Priority 2: Addressing the Changing Needs of an Ageing population • 83% agreed and 7% disagreed with Strategic Priority 3: Tackling the Root Causes of Health Inequality. • 87% agreed and 3% disagreed with Service Delivery Priority 1: Prevention • 93% agreed and no one disagreed with Service Delivery Priority 2: Community Based Services • 83% agreed and no one disagreed with Service Delivery Priority 3: Life Stages • 80% agreed and 7% disagreed with Service Delivery Priority 4: Whole Person Approach • 90% agreed and no one disagreed with Service Delivery Priority 5: Accessibility and Communication • 83% agreed and no one disagreed with Service Delivery Priority 6: Evidence and Performance A full report of consultation will be published alongside the final Strategic Plan.
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54 Appendix 3: Summary of Housing Contribution Statement Introduction The Housing Contribution Statement forms a key part of the North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership’s Strategic Plan 2026–2030. It sets out how housing services contribute to shared health and social care outcomes and strengthens the link between the Local Housing Strategy 2023–2028 and the HSCP Strategic Plan. The Housing Contribution Statement acts as a bridge between the housing and health and social care planning systems. Key Challenges North Ayrshire faces a range of housing, health and social care challenges that reflect both national trends and local circumstances. The area continues to experience high levels of deprivation, an ageing population and increasing complexity of need, all of which place growing pressure on housing, health and care systems. Demand for specialist and accessible homes, adaptations and homelessness services continues to rise while resources remain constrained. Ensuring that housing supports people to live safely and independently at home is becoming increasingly important, particularly as more people present with multiple or complex needs. In respect of improving housing’s contribution to the health and wellbeing of individual care groups, the associated challenges are summarised in the table below. How Housing and the Health and Social Care Partnership are addressing these needs is outlined through the narrative and evidence presented within the full Housing Contribution Statement. Care Group Housing Challenge Older People An ageing population could increase the demand for accessible homes, adaptations, and care services to help people remain independent at home Physical Disabilities There could be a growing need for specialist and adapted housing to support independent living and prevent unnecessary hospital or residential care admissions. Learning Disabilities People with learning disabilities could require more community- based housing options to reduce reliance on institutional settings and ensure choice and control over where they live. Mental Health Increasingly complex needs make it difficult to sustain recovery and reduce unplanned admissions or delayed discharges and appropriate supported accommodation options may be required to support this. Substance Use Individuals in recovery may require additional supports to enable them to access secure, settled housing, which can impact long- term recovery and integration into communities.
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55 Homelessness Demand on homeless services continue whilst the housing system is under pressure resulting in an inability to achieve the outcomes of the Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan. Children and Care Experienced Young People Young people leaving care and families affected by deprivation require suitable, stable housing and ongoing support to prevent homelessness and promote positive transitions to independent living. Justice People leaving the justice system may face challenges in securing suitable accommodation options that enable safe reintegration and reduce the risk of reoffending. Island Residents (Arran & Cumbrae) Island residents face additional housing pressures from limited supply, high costs, and challenges accessing care services locally, as well as high fuel costs which can affect health and wellbeing. Shared Outcomes and Service Priorities The Housing Contribution Statement (HCS) aligns the priorities of North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership with the four overarching outcomes of the North Ayrshire Local Housing Strategy (LHS) 2023-2028. The table below shows a clear alignment of HSCP Service Delivery Priorities with LHS Outcomes, to create agreed shared outcomes. HSCP Service Delivery Priority LHS Overarching Outcome Linked Housing Contribution Shared Outcome Prevention Affordable warmth and zero emissions; Improving the quality of our homes; Affordability and choice; Collaboration Provide adaptations and energy efficient homes. Reduce fuel poverty and increase affordable warmth. Support homelessness prevention and early intervention. • People live in warm, safe homes, improving health and wellbeing. • Fewer hospital admissions and crises. • Lower fuel poverty and carbon emissions. Community Based Services Collaboration; More homes at the heart of great places; Affordability and choice; Improving the quality of our homes Develop accessible, adaptable homes that enable care at home. Invest in Estate Based regeneration through the Estate Based Regeneration Programme. • More people live independently at home. • Reduced delayed discharges from hospital • Stronger, thriving communities. Life Stages Affordability and choice; More homes at the heart of great places; Improving the quality of our homes Provide housing for tenants and their families. Provide housing support for those who need it. Ensure people are aware of their housing options at • Seamless links between housing, health, and care.
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56 an early stage, for changing needs and key life transitions. Housing Services will provide advice and information through our Scheme of Assistance, as well as financial assistance to cover eligible costs for adaptations to private properties. • Better outcomes for people at every stage of life. Whole Person Approach Affordability and choice; Affordable warmth and zero emissions Work in partnership to identify where housing and health and social care can be better integrated. Address wider factors like finances, environment, and social inclusion. Promote community-led, person- centred design. • Holistic support that improves health and housing outcomes. • More resilient, inclusive communities. Accessibility & Communication Collaboration; Affordability and choice Provide clear, accessible information on housing options and support. Work in partnership with the HSCP to identify ways in which referral pathways between housing and health/social care could be strengthened. • Easier access to services. • Greater equity and informed housing choices. Evidence & Performance Collaboration, Affordability and choice, Improving the quality of our homes Work in partnership with the HSCP to share data and evidence; identify ways in which we can jointly plan, monitor, and evaluate services; and have open engagement about where to target potential investment to meet shared needs. • Better targeting of resources. • Stronger accountability and measurable joint outcomes. Conclusion The Housing Contribution Statement 2025 reaffirms the vital role that housing plays in supporting the health, wellbeing, and independence of North Ayrshire’s residents. Through strong collaboration between Housing Services and the Health and Social Care Partnership, the area continues to deliver integrated, person-centred solutions that respond to complex needs, reduce inequalities, and promote community resilience. By aligning housing strategy with health and social care priorities, North Ayrshire is better equipped to meet the challenges of an ageing population, rising demand for specialist
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57 accommodation, and the need for early intervention and prevention. The shared commitment to accessible, affordable, and energy-efficient homes ensures that people can live safely and with dignity in the place they choose. The Full Housing Contribution Statement will be available on the website alongside the Strategic Plan.
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58 Appendix 4: Full List of Policies Reviewed Service Delivery • National health and social care delivery plan, 2016 • Scottish Government 2024 vision for Health and Social Care • NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, 2025 • Delivering Value Based Health & Care A Vision for Scotland, NHS Scotland 2022 • Public Bodies (Joint Working) (National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes) (Scotland) Regulations 2014 • National Healthcare Standards • Health and Social Care Standards: my support, my life, 2017 • Scotland’s public health priorities, 2018 • Primary care: national monitoring and evaluation strategy 2019-2028 • Social care - self-directed support: framework of standards - May 2024 • Maximising Recovery, Promoting Independence: An Intermediate Care Framework for Scotland, 2012 • National clinical strategy, 2016 • NHS Ayrshire and Arran Delivery Plan 2023-2026 • Physical Activity for Health Scotland’s National Framework, 2024 • Population Health Framework 2025-2035 • Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework, 2025-2035 • Scotland's Public Service Reform Strategy: Delivering for Scotland 2025-2028 • Future trends for Scotland, 2025 Health Literacy and Digital • Making it easier: a health literacy action plan 2017-2025 • A changing nation: how Scotland will thrive in a digital world 2021 • Enabling, Connecting and Empowering: Care in the Digital Age, 2021 • Greater access, better insight, improved outcomes: a strategy for data-driven care in the digital age, 2023 • NAHSCP Digital and Data Plan, 2025 Children and families • GIRFEC • The Promise – Plan 24-30 • National Health Visiting Action Plan 2025-2035 • Scotland’s 5 Year Vaccination and Immunisation Strategy and Delivery Plan, 2025 • North Ayrshire Child Poverty Strategy 2023-2026 • North Ayrshire Children’s Services Plan, 2023-2026 • NAHSCP Corporate Parenting plan, 2023-2026 Older People/ Long Term Conditions • Age, Home and Community: next phase 2018 • Palliative and End-of-Life Care by Integration Authorities: advice note, 2018 • New dementia strategy for Scotland: Everyone's Story 2023
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59 • My Health, My Care, My Home - healthcare framework for adults living in care homes, 2022 • Social isolation and loneliness: Recovering our Connections 2023 to 2026 Carers • National carer’s strategy December 2022 • NAHSCP Building Caring Communities: 2023 – 2025 Disability • Learning/intellectual disability and autism: transformation plan 2021 • NAHSCP Learning Disability Learning plan 2025 • See hear strategy, 2014 Mental health • Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, June 2023 • Mental health and wellbeing strategy delivery plan 2023 • Core mental health standards 2023 • Psychological therapies and interventions specification, 2023 • Child And Adolescent Mental Health Services: national service specification, 2020 • Self harm strategy and action plan 2023 to 2027 • Creating Hope Together: suicide prevention strategy 2022 to 2032 Substance Use • Rights, respect and recovery: alcohol and drug treatment strategy 2018 • Alcohol Framework 2018 • National Mission on Drug Deaths Plan 2022-2026 • Drug Deaths Taskforce response: cross government approach, 2023 • Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards, 2022 Justice • The Vision for Justice in Scotland 2022 • National Strategy for Community Justice 2022 • Community Justice Ayrshire Partnership Outcomes Improvement Plan, 2024-2029 Workforce • Health and Social Care: National Workforce strategy, 2022 • NAHSCP Workforce plan 2022-2025 • NAHSCP Be the Best You Can Be, Learning and Development Plan 2023 Local Outcomes • North Ayrshire Partnership Plan 2022-2030 • NAC Council Plan 2023-2028 • NAC Community Wealth Building Strategy 2024-2027 • NAC Local Housing Strategy 2023-2025 • NAHSCP Financial inclusion strategy 2023-2028
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60 • NAHSCP Empowering Inclusion Independent Advocacy Strategic Plan 2022 to 2026 • NAHSCP Transformation Plan 2024-2027 • NAHSCP Equality outcomes 2025-2029
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Version: 6.0 North Ayrshire Council Equality & Children’s Rights Impact Assessment (Full Form) Introduction This form will assist in carrying out an Equality Impact Assessment and where appropriate, Socio-Economic, Children’s Rights, Island Communities and Consumer Duty Impacts of new, revised and existing policies and practices. Guidance on how to complete assessments is given in the Council’s Equality and Children’s Rights Impact Assessment Toolkit. The form is mandatory and must be published on the Council website once the policy or practice has been approved. Section 1: General Details 1.1 Directorate/Service HSCP: Section: Planning, Performance and Transformation 1.2 Name of Policy, Practice of Proposal being assessed: Refreshed Strategic Plan 2026-2030 Is it New ☐ Existing (being reviewed): ☒ Budget Proposal: ☐ Please insert Budget Reference number (if applicable) Click or tap here to enter text. 1.3 List of participants in the assessment Seony Ross 1.4 Manager responsible for the impact assessment Name: Seony Ross Designation: Team Manager Strategic Planning and Equalities 1.5 Timetable (should be started during the development phase of the proposal) Date Assessment Started: 15 September 2025 Interim Review Date: 01/12/2025
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Version: 6.0 Final sign off by Head of Service at the end of the form. Section 2 – Aims and Relevance 2.1 What is the purpose of the policy practice or proposal? The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 (29-39) outlines a requirement for all Integration Authorities to prepare a Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan must: Set out arrangements for carrying out integration functions, Set out how it will contribute to the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes, Include separate arrangements for (a minimum of 2) localities, Consider the integration delivery principles, Consider the views of the Strategic Planning Group, Consider other IJB Strategic Plans operating in the same area, Be reviewed at least every 3 years. This Plan refreshes North Ayrshire’s Strategic Plan ‘Caring Together’ for 2022-2026, for the remainder of the period of 2026-2030.
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Version: 6.0 Section 3 – Equality and Diversity 3.1 What evidence were you able to access about the relevant needs of protected groups as outlined in section 3.3 below (Please include your sources – links to equality providers and evidence can be found in both the toolkit and the Promoting Equality Page on Connects). Evidence for the plan consisted of a Strategic Needs Assessment and Engagement analysis. The needs assessment contains the following information regarding protected characteristics: male and female population; age groups; racial demographics, religious demographics, LBGT population, long-term conditions, learning disability population, mental health information by age and sex, children’s mental health information, substance use information by age and sex, unpaid carer information by age and sex, care home resident information by age and sex, fall and hip fracture information in older people, information about pregnancy and maternity, information about children’s care, child poverty data, and homelessness information. All sources can be found in the Strategic Needs Assessment. The engagement analysis included engagement pieces with protected characteristics, such as: Children and young people, gypsy traveller community, Refugees, mental health care users, people with learning disabilities, neurodiverse people and families, people with experience of substance use, unpaid carers, parents, people with experience of dementia, LGBT people, members of religious groups etc. full details of findings are available in the engagement report. 3.2 Are there any gaps in your evidence or areas of uncertainty? No 3.3 From the list of protected characteristic groups identified in section 2.3 please identify any potential positive and negative impacts on any of these protected characteristics? Protected Characteristic Yes No Please Explain (Positive or Negative or Neutral) Age - Older people, children and young people – please identify which categories will be affected ☒ ☐ Positive Impact Relevant aims: SP2: aims to address the changing needs of an ageing population. SDP1: Prevention aims to promote self-management to prevent deterioration of conditions, and look for innovations in monitoring conditions. It aims to ensure children’s social work teams have
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Version: 6.0 Protected Characteristic Yes No Please Explain (Positive or Negative or Neutral) the resources to support children and families, and work with schools to minimise the risk of substance use in children. SDP2: Community based services aims to review resources of community teams, develop a strategy for keeping older people independent for longer, ensure robust care around hospital admissions and discharge, provide support for unpaid carers, review adult care provision on Arran, and review models of care for looked after children. SDP3: Life Stages aims to ensure systems are in place to support older people who live with frailty, review palliative care arrangements, review care pathways, and ensure smooth transitions of care between services. It aims to ensure the health visiting service can promote the developmental needs of children and ensure children have well planned throughcare and aftercare. SDP 4 Whole Person approach aims to support families, carers, and other aspects of service-users’ lives to ensure well rounded support. SDP5 accessibility and communication aims to ensure information is accessible to all groups, including considering digital tools and health literacy and ensuring groups with lower digital skills such as older people are supported.
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Version: 6.0 Protected Characteristic Yes No Please Explain (Positive or Negative or Neutral) SDP6: Evidence aims to involve children in decisions and plans Disability - Physical and Learning ☒ ☐ Positive Relevant aims: SDP1: Prevention aims to promote self-management to prevent deterioration on conditions SDP2: Community based services aims to provide support for unpaid carers and deliver more care in the community SDP3: Life Stages aims to ensure adequate support for people with NDD and investigate service gaps in relation to service-user with multiple health and care requirements. SDP5 Accessibility & Communication aims to ensure information is accessible to all groups and investigate accessibility barriers Gender reassignment - Where a person is living as the opposite gender to their birth ☐ ☒ While the Strategic Plan itself has no aims specific to gender reassignments, it does include the delivery of the IJB Equality outcomes 2025-2029, which has some aims to improve access for trans or non-binary people Pregnancy and Maternity ☒ ☐ Positive Relevant aims: SP1 aims to support the improvement of population health
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Version: 6.0 Protected Characteristic Yes No Please Explain (Positive or Negative or Neutral) and includes maternal and infant health in the approach. Race, ethnicity, colour, nationality or national origins (including gypsy/ travellers, refugees and asylum seekers) ☒ ☐ Positive Relevant aims: SP3 aims to tackle the root causes of health and care inequality and includes the experience of refugees, unaccompanied asylum seeking children, and those with no recourse to public funds in the approach. SDP5 accessibility and communication aims to investigate barriers to accessing services for different groups, and consider resources in place for supporting refugees’ access to health and social care Religion or belief (includes religious and philosophical beliefs, including no belief) ☐ ☐ No impact. Sex - Women and Men ☒ ☐ Positive Although there are no aims targeted to males or females specifically, the aims of the plan are for services which will affect either males or females more, which will be considered in the delivery approach. For example, there are aims around substance use which tends to affect more males than females. Unpaid care services are used more be females as they are more likely to be carers. Care at home and frailty services are also more likely to be
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Version: 6.0 Protected Characteristic Yes No Please Explain (Positive or Negative or Neutral) used be females who have a longer life expectancy Sexual Orientation - Lesbian, gay and bisexual people ☐ ☒ While the Strategic Plan itself has no aims specific to sexual orientation, it does include the delivery of the IJB Equality outcomes 2025-2029, which has some aims to improve access for the LGBT community Marriage and Civil Partnership - marriage between same sex couples is included ☐ ☒ No impact Human Rights ☐ ☒ The strategic Plan should have no impact on human rights as it does prevent or constrain anyone’s human rights.
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Version: 6.0 Protected Characteristic Yes No Please Explain (Positive or Negative or Neutral) Care Experienced - This term refers to anyone who is currently in care or has been for any length of time regardless of their age and includes Kinship Care (other family members); Looked After at Home (with support from social work); Residential Care; Foster Care; Secure Care; Adoption. ☒ ☐ Positive Relevant aims: SP3 aims to tackle the root causes of health inequality, including investigating the link between poverty, care experience and child protection. SDP1: Prevention aims to support families to stay together so children are less likely to progress into further care experience, SDP2: Community based services aims to review models of care for young people to shift the balance of care from external residential resources to family-based care. SDP3: Life Stages aims to ensure young people leaving care have well-planned throughcare and aftercare to support them to live independently into adulthood. SDP 4 Whole Person approach aims to prioritise a family inclusive approach through services and consider options for independent living in the community.
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Version: 6.0 Protected Characteristic Yes No Please Explain (Positive or Negative or Neutral) Other - Poverty, homelessness, ex-offenders, isolated rural communities, carers, part-time workers, or people in a marriage/civil partnership ☒ ☐ Positive Relevant aims: SP3 aims to tackle the root causes of care inequality, with a clear focus on the impacts of poverty and deprivation. The plan aims to support those in the justice system e.g. through optimising diversion and continue to develop innovative unpaid work projects. The plan aims to support those affected by domestic violence, working with victims, perpetrators and families. The plan aims to support carers, identifying them and ensuring their health and care needs are met. The plan aims to support the workforce, through the development of a new workforce plan. 3.4 Describe any consultation or engagement undertaken, including details of the groups involved and the methods used. Engagement is carried out on a regular basis in the Health and Social Care Partnership, whether for specific purposes such as consultation on a decision or service, or through ongoing engagement, such as Locality Planning or What Matters to You. The Health and Social Care Partnership aims to continually build on our knowledge and understanding of the experience of service users by ensuring their feedback is used to continuously improve services and functions, so their views count for more than a single engagement exercise. At the end of 2024, an exercise was carried out which collated the results of all pieces of engagement across the HSCP from January 2023 to December 2024. A total of 47 engagement pieces were collated which includes events, forums, online surveys, 1-1 interviews, panels and workshops. Approximately 2,887 people were reached over the 2 years spread over these engagement pieces.
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Version: 6.0 For the Strategic Plan, a meta-analysis was carried out, analysing what was learned across these engagement exercises, summarising these into key themes and analysing by service. It was felt we could learn more from feedback by looking at everything people contributed over this time, than we could from carrying out a single engagement exercise for the purpose of developing the plan. Questions 3.5 – 3.7 refer to the ‘Three Key needs (or aims) of the Equality Duty’ 3.5 Which aspects of the policy eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation? None 3.6 Which aspects of the policy advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not? None 3.7 Which aspects of the policy foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not? (Does it tackle prejudice and promote a better understanding of equality issues). None 3.8 If you have identified any negative impacts of your proposal how will you mitigate these? N/A 3.9 Is the policy or practice intended to promote equality by permitting positive action or lead to positive outcomes for people based on a protected characteristic? Yes, section 3.3 outlines the ways in which the strategy will lead to positive outcomes for protected characteristics.
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Version: 6.0 Section 4 – The Fairer Scotland Duty The Fairer Scotland Duty (‘the Duty’), Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010 places a legal responsibility on the Council to actively consider (‘pay due regard to’) how we can reduce inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage when making decisions. 4.1 Does the proposal have the potential to have a significant impact on inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage? (consider low income; low wealth; material deprivation; area deprivation; communities of place or interest, socio-economic background). Yes ☒ No ☐ If No, please go to Section 5. If Yes please provide more information under any of the below headings which are relevant, highlighting any evidence and sources of evidence used to inform your information. 4.2 Low Income/Income Poverty: Cannot afford to maintain regular payments such as bills, food and clothing SP3 aims to tackle the root causes of care inequality, with a clear focus on the impacts of poverty and deprivation. 4.3 Low/and or no wealth: Having enough money to meet basic living costs and pay bills but have no savings to pay for any unexpected spends and no provision for the future. SP3 aims to tackle the root causes of care inequality, with a clear focus on the impacts of poverty and deprivation. 4.4 Material Deprivation: Being unable to access basic goods and services, i.e. financial products like life insurance, repair/replace broken electrical goods, warm home, leisure/hobbies SP3 aims to tackle the root causes of care inequality, with a clear focus on the impacts of poverty and deprivation. 4.5 Area Deprivation: Where you live (rural areas), where you work (accessibility of transport.
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Version: 6.0 The plan outlines the process by which the HSCP will develop locality plans, which will consider the circumstances of those in each locality compared to other areas, and aim to address the particular health and care needs within each. 4.6 If impacts have been identified how will these be mitigated or explored in more detail? (please outline below) Mitigation not necessary as impacts identified are positive. Section 5 – Children’s Rights When considering the Children’s Right’s Impact process, some of the key considerations include any evidence, research and consultation (specifically including any consultation or engagement with young people). 5.1 Are any Children’s Rights impacted by this proposal? (please refer to Appendix 1 of this document, where the Children’s Rights Articles have been matched against the Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) wellbeing indicators. This is solely to make it easier to identify which rights might be impacted on; the Rights are the key element of this section). Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.2 Please indicate, if possible, how many children and young people (nearest estimate) are likely to be affected by the policy or measure? N/A 5.3 Are some children and young people more likely to be affected than others? Yes ☒ No ☐ If, Yes what groups? (consider protected characteristics – e.g. disabled young people, LGBT etc) Care experienced, or children and young people with experiences with children’s social work. Children and young people with experience of mental health services, children and young people with NDD, children and young people transitioning from children’s to adult social work, children and young people with experience of substance use.
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Version: 6.0 5.4 What Children’s Rights are likely to be affected by the policy/proposal? Please refer to Table 2 (Appendix 1) ‘Links between Wellbeing Indicators and Articles of the UNCRC’ and insert the relevant rights and indicators in the table below. Wellbeing indicator (e.g. safe, healthy etc) Children’s Right (e.g. 22 – refugee children) Safe 9 – separation from parents 19 – protection from violence, abuse and neglect 22 – refugee children 33 – drug abuse Healthy 3 – best interests of the child 6 – life, survival and development 24 – health and health services Achieving 4 – implementation of the convention 18 – parental responsibilities and state assistance Nurtured 20 – children deprived of a family 21 – adoption 27 – adequate standard of living Active 23 – Children with Disabilities Respected 12 – respect for the views of the child Responsible 40 – juvenile justice Included 26 – social security
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Version: 6.0 5.5 What likely impact will the policy/proposal have on Children’s Rights and Wellbeing? Either Positive, Negative or Neutral. Children Rights - Positive Other Protected Characteristics N/A 5.7 What consultation or engagement has taken place with young people? The engagement analysis includes engagement carried out with young people. For example transitions engagement, NDD engagement, and children and young people’s engagement about health and care priorities. 5.6 If Negative impacts are identified how will these be mitigated, or the effect reduced? Click or tap here to enter text.
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Version: 6.0 Section 6 – Island Communities Impact (or Island Proofing) Island Proofing is about considering the particular needs and circumstances of island communities when public sector organisations exercise their functions and make decisions. This has been added to the process of assessing the Council Plan and includes a range of issues such as access to services, digital connectivity, employment and access to education, transport and access to goods and services. 6.1 Do the intended outcomes of the proposal potentially differ or have a different impact for our Island Communities? Yes ☐ No ☒ 6.2 What are the potential impacts for our Island Communities? The expected positive impacts are due to be the same for our island communities as they are for mainland communities. It is outlined in the plan that a review of services in Arran will be carried out regarding adult social care to ensure parity with the mainland, and the island communities will have their individual circumstances considered during the outlined locality planning process. 6.3 Please explain if the impacts are different for communities on different islands? Click or tap here to enter text. 6.4 What consultation or engagement has taken place with the Island Communities? Engagement on Arran has been considered as part of the engagement analysis including locality engagement, and primary care engagement. 6.5 How will you address any potential barriers or wider impacts for Island Communities as identified through this assessment? Click or tap here to enter text. Section 7 – The Consumer Duty The Consumer Duty is about the impact of Council proposals on consumers in Scotland. A Consumer is an individual or a small business that purchases, uses or receives goods or services in Scotland, that are supplied either by a business or a public body – please see What is the Consumer Duty. 7.1 Will your proposal impact on consumers? Yes ☐ No ☒
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Version: 6.0 If no, please complete the ‘Assessment not required’ template by emailing northayrshireperforms@north-ayrshire.gov.uk 7.2 What are the impacts, if any, on consumers in general? Is it likely that consumers will experience harm because of this proposal? Click or tap here to enter text. 7.3 What are the impacts if any, on consumers in vulnerable circumstances? Is it likely that consumers in vulnerable circumstances will experience harm because of this proposal? (please include any relevant evidence or engagement with consumers) *Vulnerable circumstances may be temporary in nature and may or may not arise as a resulted of a consumer’s protected characteristics. For more information, please see page 31 of Consumer Scotland’s draft guidance on the consumer duty. Click or tap here to enter text. 7.4 What consultation and engagement has taken place with consumers around your proposal? Click or tap here to enter text. 7.5 What alternative proposals are there that could improve outcomes for consumers and/or reduce harm to consumers? How do these compare to the original proposal? Click or tap here to enter text.
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Version: 6.0 Section 8 – Crosscutting Impacts 8.1 Have any cross-cutting impacts been identified from other Council Services or Partner Agencies (multiple discrimination or accumulated effects of multiple proposals on a protected characteristic group)? No 8.2 If Crosscutting issues identified with other Services, what discussion/interaction has taken place to mitigate any potential negative impacts of accumulated proposals? Click or tap here to enter text.
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Version: 6.0 Section 9 – Outcome of the Assessment 9.1 Please detail the outcome of the assessment: 1. No major alterations to the policy assessed: the Impact Assessment demonstrates the policy is robust and there is no possible discrimination or adverse impact. All opportunities to minimise negative impacts and enhance positive outcomes have been taken. ☒ Or 2. Adjust the policy: the Impact Assessment identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. Adjust the policy to address any issues identified or to better promote equality. ☐ Or 3. Continue the policy: the Impact Assessment identifies the potential for adverse impact or missed opportunities to promote equality. Set out the justifications for continuing with it in section 9.3. For the most important policies and proposals, compelling reasons will be needed. ☐ Or 4. Stop and remove the policy/proposal: following assessment a decision has been taken not to proceed with the proposal for examples due to actual or potential unlawful discrimination or other harmful impact. ☐ 9.2 For Outcome 2. in section 9.1 above - please detail recommendations, including any action required to address negative impacts identified or to better promote equality. Click or tap here to enter text. 9.3 If Outcome 3 is chosen from section 9.1 above, please outline the justifications for continuing the policy/procedure. Click or tap here to enter text. 9.4 Please state the key issues, recommendations and future actions arising from the Integrated Impact Assessment. Click or tap here to enter text.
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Version: 6.0 Section 10 – Monitoring 10.1 Describe how you will monitor the impact of this policy e.g. performance indicators used, other monitoring arrangements, who will monitor progress, criteria used to measure if outcomes are achieved, timescales including any future reviews of the impact of the proposal? The Strategic Plan will be monitored via the annual performance report, quarterly reports to the Performance and Audit Committee, and via the Strategic Planning Group. Section 11 – Sign Off 11.1 Head of Service who has approved the impact assessment. Name: Click or tap here to enter text. Title: Click or tap here to enter text. Date: Click or tap here to enter text. Section 12 – Publication 12.1 Following approval by Head of Service, completed Impact Assessments need to be published on the Council’s External Website. Please email: northayrshireperforms@north-ayrshire.gov.uk
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Version: 6.0 Appendix 1 - GIRFEC Wellbeing Indicators and Children’s Rights Table 1 - GIRFEC Wellbeing Indicators Safe Protected from abuse, neglect and harm Healthy Having the best possible standards of physical and mental health; support to make healthy, safe choices Achieving Accomplishing goals and thereby boosting skills, confidence and self-esteem; ‘being all they can be’. Nurtured Having a loving and stimulating place to live and grow Active Having opportunities to take part in a wide range of activities Respected Being enabled to understand their world, being given a voice, being listened to, and being involved in the decisions that affect their wellbeing. Responsible Taking an active role within their home, school and community. Included Being a full member of the communities in which they live and learn; receiving help and guidance to overcome inequalities.
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Version: 6.0 Articles of the UNCRC matched against the GIRFEC indicators Summary of the UNCRC Articles from 1 – 54 (UNICEF) Table 2 - Links between Wellbeing Indicators and Articles of the UNCRC *Please note in general the use of the term Governments, includes public sector organisations such as the Council, some articles will have stronger relevance for the work of the Council than others. Wellbeing Indicator – Safe There are 12 relevant articles of the UNCRC (Rights of the Child) linked to the Safe indicator. Article 9 – Separation from parents Children must not be separated from their parents against their will unless it is in their best interests (for example, if a parent is hurting or neglecting a child). Children whose parents have separated have the right to stay in contact with both parents, unless this could cause them harm. 10 – Family reunification Governments must respond quickly and sympathetically if a child or their parents apply to live together in the same country. If a child’s parents live apart in different countries, the child has the right to visit and keep in contact with both of them. 11 - Abduction and non-return of children Governments must do everything they can to stop children being taken out of their own country illegally by their parents or other relatives or being prevented from returning home. 19 - Protection from violence, abuse and neglect Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them. Children and Young People have the right to be kept safe from harm. They must be given proper care by those looking after them. 22 - Refugee children If a child is seeking refuge or has refugee status, governments must provide them with appropriate protection and assistance to help them enjoy all the rights in the Convention. Governments must help refugee children who are separated from their parents to be reunited with them. Children and Young People have the right to special help and be allowed to live somewhere that is safe if they are a refugee.
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Version: 6.0 32 - Child labour Governments must protect children from economic exploitation and work that is dangerous or might harm their health, development or education. Governments must set a minimum age for children to work and ensure that work conditions are safe and appropriate. If they are under 16 there are laws about where, when and for how long they can work. 33 - Drug abuse Governments must protect children from the illegal use of drugs and from being involved in the production or distribution of drugs. 34 - Sexual exploitation Governments must protect children from all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation. Children and Young People have the right to never be pressurised or forced into doing anything sexual. They have the right to be protected from it. 35 - Abduction, sale and trafficking Governments must protect children from being abducted, sold or moved illegally to a different place in or outside their country for the purpose of exploitation. People should never make them do anything against their will, like marry someone for instance. 36 - Other forms of exploitation Governments must protect children from all other forms of exploitation, for example the exploitation of children for political activities, by the media or for medical research. Children and Young People have the right to be protected from being taken advantage of in any way. 37 - Inhumane treatment and detention Children and Young People have the right to be treated with respect. If they have committed a crime children should be arrested, detained or imprisoned only as a last resort and for the shortest time possible. They must be treated with respect and care, and be able to keep in contact with their family. Children must not be put in prison with adults. They should not be locked up unless it is absolutely necessary and they will get legal help. 38 - War and armed conflicts Governments must not allow children under the age of 15 to take part in war or join the armed forces. Governments must do everything they can to protect and care for children affected by war and armed conflicts. In Scotland, they have to be 16 to join the armed forces and are not normally allowed to fight until they are 18.
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Version: 6.0 Wellbeing Indicator – Healthy There are 4 relevant articles of the UNCRC (Rights of the Child) linked to the Healthy indicator. 3 – Best interests of the child The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children. Children and Young People have the right to have their interests considered if a decision is being made by any person about them. What is best for them is what matters. 6 – Life, survival and development Every child has the right to life. Governments must do all they can to ensure that children survive and develop to their full potential. Children and Young People have the right to be kept safe from harm, they have the right to be alive, survive and develop through life. 24 - Health and health services Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must provide good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food, and a clean environment and education on health and well-being so that children can stay healthy. Children and Young People have the right to be given good healthcare (if they are ill) so they can get well again. They have the right to live in a safe, healthy environment with good food and clean drinking water. 39 - Recovery and rehabilitation of child victims Children who have experienced neglect, abuse, exploitation, torture or who are victims of war must receive special support to help them recover their health, dignity, self-respect and social life.
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Version: 6.0 Wellbeing Indicator – Achieving There are 4 relevant articles of the UNCRC (Rights of the Child) linked to the Achieving indicator. 4 – Implementation of the Convention Governments must do all they can to make sure every child can enjoy their rights by creating systems and passing laws that promote and protect Children’s Rights. Children and Young People have the right to have their rights protected and an environment where they can grow up safe. 18 - Parental responsibilities and state assistance Both parents share responsibility for bringing up their child and should always consider what is best for the child. Governments must support parents by creating support services for children and giving parents the help they need to raise their children. 28 - Right to education Every child has the right to an education. Primary education must be free and different forms of secondary education must be available to every child. Discipline in schools must respect children’s dignity and their rights. Richer countries must help poorer countries achieve this. In Scotland education is free and children three years old+ are entitled to a free nursery place. 29 - Goals of education Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment. It must help to prepare them for adult life.
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Version: 6.0 Wellbeing Indicator – Nurtured There are 8 relevant articles of the UNCRC (Rights of the Child) linked to the Nurtured indicator. 4 – Implementation of the Convention Governments must do all they can to make sure every child can enjoy their rights by creating systems and passing laws that promote and protect children’s rights Children and Young People have the right to have their rights protected and an environment where they can grow up safe. 5 - Parental guidance and a child’s evolving capacities Every child has the right to be registered at birth, to have a name and nationality, and, as far as possible, to know and be cared for by their parents. Children and Young People have the right to their parents being responsible to guide them through their childhood and help them learn how to use their rights. 9 – Separation from parents Children must not be separated from their parents against their will unless it is in their best interests (for example, if a parent is hurting or neglecting a child). Children whose parents have separated have the right to stay in contact with both parents, unless this could cause them harm. 10 – Family reunification Governments must respond quickly and sympathetically if a child or their parents apply to live together in the same country. If a child’s parents live apart in different countries, the child has the right to visit and keep in contact with both of them. 18 - Parental responsibilities and state assistance Both parents share responsibility for bringing up their child and should always consider what is best for the child. Governments must support parents by creating support services for children and giving parents the help they need to raise their children. 20 - Children deprived of a family If a child cannot be looked after by their immediate family, the government must give them special protection and assistance. This includes making sure the child is provided with alternative care that is continuous and respects the child’s culture, language and religion. Children and Young People have the right to special care if they can’t live with their parents. They may be looked after by other members of their family or by a different family. 21 - Adoption Governments must oversee the process of adoption to make sure it is safe, lawful and that it prioritises children’s best interests. Children should only be adopted
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Version: 6.0 outside of their country if they cannot be placed with a family in their own country. 25 - Review of treatment in care If a child has been placed away from home for the purpose of care or protection (for example, with a foster family, in hospital, a care home or somewhere else away from home), they have the right to a regular review of their treatment, the way they are cared for and their wider circumstances to help make sure they are still getting what’s best for them. 27 - Adequate standard of living Every child has the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and social needs and support their development. Governments must help families who cannot afford to provide this. Children and Young People have the right to a safe place to live, food, clothing and to take part in things they enjoy.
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Version: 6.0 Wellbeing Indicator – Active There are 8 relevant articles of the UNCRC (Rights of the Child) linked to the Nurtured indicator. 3 - Best interests of the child The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children. Children and Young People have the right to have their interests considered if a decision is being made by any person about them. What is best for them is what matters. 23 - Children with disabilities A child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence and to play an active part in the community. Governments must do all they can to support disabled children and their families. Children and Young People have the right to if they have any kind of disability, have special help to make sure they can join in with things. 31 - Leisure, play and culture Children and Young People have the right to rest, play and have the chance to join a wide range of artistic and cultural activities. It is really important to remember to have a balance in their life.
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Version: 6.0 Wellbeing Indicator – Respected There are 12 relevant articles of the UNCRC (Rights of the Child) linked to the Nurtured indicator. 2 - Non-discrimination Children and Young People have the right to have the convention that applies to everyone under the age of 18, no matter who they are, whether they are a boy or a girl, what their religion is, whether they have a disability, or what type of family they come from. 3 - Best interests of the child The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children. Children and Young People have the right to have their interests considered if a decision is being made by any person about them. What is best for them is what matters. 4 – Implementation of the Convention Governments must do all they can to make sure every child can enjoy their rights by creating systems and passing laws that promote and protect children’s rights. Children and Young People have the right to have their rights protected and an environment where they can grow up safe. 5 - Parental guidance and a child’s evolving capacities Every child has the right to be registered at birth, to have a name and nationality, and, as far as possible, to know and be cared for by their parents. Children and Young People have the right to their parents being responsible to guide them through their childhood and help them learn how to use their rights. 8 - Protection and preservation of identity Every child has the right to an identity. Governments must respect and protect that right, and prevent the child’s name, nationality or family relationships from being changed unlawfully. Children and Young People have the right to know who they are – official records should be kept. If they are over 16 years old and adopted, they can try to find out who their birth parents are. 12 - Respect for the views of the child Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously. This right applies at all times, for example during immigration proceedings, housing decisions or the child’s day-to-day home life. Children and Young People have the right to speak up and have their opinions listened to and be taken seriously by adults on things that affect them.
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Version: 6.0 13 - Freedom of expression Every child must be free to express their thoughts and opinions and to access all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law. Children and Young People have the right to say whatever they believe as long as it does not harm or offend other people. They also have the responsibility to respect the rights and freedom of others. 14 - Freedom of thought, belief and religion Every child has the right to think and believe what they choose and also to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Governments must respect the rights and responsibilities of parents to guide their child as they grow up. Children and Young People have the right to choose their own religion and beliefs. Their parents should help them think about this. 16 - Right to privacy Every child has the right to privacy. The law should protect the child’s private, family and home life, including protecting children from unlawful attacks that harm their reputation, for example, they shouldn’t have their personal letters opened or anyone listening in to their personal phone calls. 17 - Access to information; mass media Every child has the right to reliable information from a variety of sources, and Governments should encourage the media to provide information that children can understand. Governments must help protect children from materials that could harm them. Children and Young People have the right to access information which is important to their wellbeing. Adults should help them find information they are looking for and make sure it’s not harmful. 18 - Parental responsibilities and state assistance Both parents share responsibility for bringing up their child and should always consider what is best for the child. Governments must support parents by creating support services for children and giving parents the help they need to raise their children. 30 - The right to learn and use the language, customs and religion of their family Every child has the right to learn and use the language, customs and religion of their family, whether or not these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live.
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Version: 6.0 Wellbeing Indicator – Responsible There are 5 relevant articles of the UNCRC (Rights of the Child) linked to the Responsible indicator. 3 - Best interests of the child The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children. Children and Young People have the right to have their interests considered if a decision is being made by any person about them. What is best for them is what matters. 12 - Respect for the views of the child Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously. This right applies at all times, for example during immigration proceedings, housing decisions or the child’s day-to-day home life. Children and Young People have the right to speak up and have their opinions listened to and be taken seriously by adults on things that affect them. 14 - freedom of thought, conscience and religion Every child has the right to think and believe what they choose and also to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Governments must respect the rights and responsibilities of parents to guide their child as they grow up. Children and Young People have the right to choose their own religion and beliefs. Their parents should help them think about this. 15 - Freedom of association Every child has the right to meet with other children and to join groups and organisations, as long as this does not stop other people from enjoying their rights. 40 - Juvenile justice A child accused or guilty of breaking the law must be treated with dignity and respect. They have the right to legal assistance and a fair trial that takes account of their age. Governments must set a minimum age for children to be tried in a criminal court and manage a justice system that enables children who have been in conflict with the law to reintegrate into society. Children and Young People have the right to be given legal assistance if they have committed a crime. The Convention also states that they should only be sent to prison if they have committed a serious crime.
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Version: 6.0 Wellbeing Indicator – Included There are 5 relevant articles of the UNCRC (Rights of the Child) linked to the Included indicator. 3 - Best interests of the child The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children. Children and Young People have the right to have their interests considered if a decision is being made by any person about them. What is best for them is what matters. 6 - Life, survival and development Every child has the right to life. Governments must do all they can to ensure that children survive and develop to their full potential. Children and Young People have the right to be kept safe from harm, they have the right to be alive, survive and develop through life. 18 - Parental responsibilities and state assistance Both parents share responsibility for bringing up their child and should always consider what is best for the child. Governments must support parents by creating support services for children and giving parents the help they need to raise their children. 23 - Children with disabilities A child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence and to play an active part in the community. Governments must do all they can to support disabled children and their families. Children and Young People have the right to special help to make sure they can join in with things. 26 - Social security Every child has the right to benefit from social security. Governments must provide social security, including financial support and other benefits, to families in need of assistance. 27 - Adequate standard of living Every child has the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and social needs and support their development. Governments must help families who cannot afford to provide this. Children and Young People have the right to a safe place to live, food, clothing and to take part in things they enjoy.