Members update from ALLIANCE Chief Officer

Dear members,  

As the dust settles after the election our policy team have been working to reach out to the new MSPs, Cabinet Secretaries, Ministers and party spokespeople to introduce the ALLIANCE, our priorities and those of our members.  We will keep you informed of meetings with MSPs and any changes or updates to key policies including the Long Term Conditions Framework, Service Renewal Framework and progress on NHS Reform and social care among others. 

These priorities have been informed by our engagement with members.  Thank you for your time in meeting with us over the past few months, attending our annual conference and completing the recent membership survey. Your comments have helped to inform the ALLIANCE senior team workplan development for the coming year.  

ALLIANCE conference report  

The Communications team have been working on a report to capture the learning from our annual conference which I am pleased to share with you this month: 

You can find the report on our website here. 

Self management  

Last month the Self Management team Grant Allocation Panel came together to discuss the investments for this next cycle of the fund.  As always, they were difficult decisions.  After over a decade of the fund, the broad range of applications we receive is a signal to the importance of taking a community based approach to supporting health and wellbeing.  We will continue to work to showcase the learning and ensure that it informs the policy direction.   

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) 

Our children and young people advisory group recently met and are planning work to mark the 20^th anniversary of GIRFEC this year.  Our learning suggests that GIRFEC still has wide appeal, but that too many families are not aware of what this means for them, and practitioners still want to support to help implement it.  

The Scottish Government continues to undertake work to support with this, and we heard that there is a national group looking at GIRFEC.  

Sustainable prescribing  

The ALLIANCE is contributing to work being led by the Scottish Government to develop and embed environmentally sustainable and effective prescribing practices in Scotland. This work will contribute to the NHS Scotland target of becoming a net zero health service by 2040.  We will be working to support lived experience involvement in this work over the coming year.  

Considering the month ahead, I am looking forward to the Scottish Federation for Housing Associations conference this month.  I will also be speaking at the Highland TSI conference on a prevention focused health and social care system.  We are pleased to partner Healing Arts Scotland week taking place from 15 to 19 June.  

You can find out more information about it at this website: Healing Arts Scotland | Healing Arts Scotland 

I am also looking forward to meeting up with some ALLIANCE members this coming month, including Alcohol Focus Scotland and Values into Action.  It is always great to meet with members and to hear about your work, your priorities, and ways we can work together.  Please do get in touch with the membership team arrange a meeting to discuss your work and how we can support.