In Fife, a vast range of services from NHS Fife and Fife Council’s Social Work Services have transferred over to Fife’s Health and Social Care Partnership.
I have argued that the new Integration Joint Board (IJB) for Fife which has the governance role of overseeing health and social care has been underfunded from day one and is why they struggle to meet the health and social care needs of the people of Fife.
Services the IJB are now responsible for include:
- all adult and older people Social Work Services
- community health services e.g. district nursing, physiotherapy and mental health services
- children’s community health services e.g. health visiting
- housing services which provide support services to vulnerable adults and disability adaptations; and
- the planning of some services provided in hospital e.g. medical care of the elderly.
Fife is one of the largest Health and Social Care Partnerships in Scotland, next to Edinburgh and Glasgow, with around 5,000 staff and a joint budget of around £470 million.
The rapidly ageing population means many more people will need health and social care support in the future. Community Care must never be about care on the cheap. It is true that caring and supporting someone in their home is far less expensive that a hospital but it cannot be underfunded as is happening at present and is why we see people trapped in hospital when they are medically deemed okay to go home, and is why there are large waiting lists for people to get care packages in the community and why there is such weaknesses in mental health support.
I will continue to work with all partners to get the proper funding in place
