A joint Iriss and Scottish Care Project: Inspiring outcomes for older people
I’ll be spending Monday and Tuesday in Dunoon working with Ardenlee care home to understand more about what it’s like to be an older person in Dunoon.
I’ll be speaking to residents of the care home and hopefully members of the community to understand the any challenges or opportunities of living locally.
If you would like the opportunity to chat about life in Dunoon or are supporting people locally, please feel free to get in touch at rhiann.mclean@iriss.org.uk
This project is preparing for the future of care and support for older people in Scotland. A key part of this future will be the integration of health and social care to provide holistic support for those who need it.
This article from the Guardian sets up a vision for care moving towards working towards outcomes for an individual through integration.
In the conversation about integration, there can be a risk on focusing on ‘structural solutions’ and ‘systems’ for integration. I believe that some of the critical foundation work that can be done now is to un-learn the formal distinctions between health and social care (the classic example is a ‘health bath’ versus a ‘social care bath’) and shift towards a shared understanding of outcomes.
One of the conclusions of this article is that care at home in the future will need a different type of staff team. Staff will need to be well trained and able to support people with more complex needs in their own homes.
Fit for the Future is currently working with providers in North Lanarkshire and selecting providers in Argyll & Bute to plan and recruit a workforce with the values needed to thrive as a part of an integrated, person centred system. This focus came from the shared understanding that building a secure, well-trained staff base with the values needed to succeed in this changing environment is an investment in the future of services.
In tandem, IRISS’ Keeping it Personal Project will work in a locality with both health and social care to achieve:
For some inspiration of what integrated services could look like, please see the King’s Fund UK integration map:
http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/integrated-care-making-it-happen/integrated-care-map
I’m Julie Thomson, I work as Development Advisor across Argyll and Bute; large geographical area with beautiful scenery.
My previous posts have mostly all been developmental – Development posts in Health, Education, the Third sector and latterly with the Scottish Social Services Council.
I am employed by Scottish Care to work with Independent Sector providers in Argyll and Bute; my role is to support them to engage with the Reshaping Care for Older People Programme.
There are a variety of Care Home and Care at Home services in Argyll and Bute..some providers are starting to see the value in Reshaping Care and the positive impact the programme could have on their business.
Key area of activity are Joint Strategic Commissioning, Leadership and Change Management and a great deal of activity around locality planning.
Working with IRISS is always a learning opportunity and I see Fit for the Future as an opportunity to support services to embrace change and reshape services to meet population needs.
For more details about the project or to get involved locally, please visit the ‘Contact Us’ page.