Integration Support Team review of 2017

Our Integration Support team review activities over 2017 for our annual report.

The Integration Support Team has provided advice, guidance, training and support through the ever evolving landscape of health and social care integration. Through this year we have provided safe spaces for learning and discussion within strategic commissioning, data, outcome focussed commissioning, managing relationships within the third sector, evaluating progress, the new joint workforce strategy, and prevention. These events have generated excellent ideas and new areas of working for the team – including a series of seven regional strategic commissioning forums across the country, supporting the development of third sector health and social care forums in Ayr and Aberdeenshire, and a Strategic Commissioning event in Falkirk. These sometimes difficult conversations need to be had if transformational change is to be achieved, and by facilitating these we can offer a broader view of the integration landscape as a whole, and share examples of best practice and overcoming any barriers to partnership working. We have through our integration forums highlighted a need for more training in certain areas e.g. in health and social care data and mediation, and have worked with partners in both third sector and in healthcare to deliver these.

We have also worked to create new ways of showcasing best practice and asset based approaches through our VLOGs, which have seen the development team travel across Scotland to capture examples of partnership working. This includes the development of the First Responders Unit in Ayrshire, Participatory Budgeting in Moray, and the Community Health in Partnership (CHiP) project in Aberdeenshire. These examples demonstrate endless opportunities of partnership working – particularly within the more rural areas.

As we move forward the programme itself is entering an exciting period of change. The Integration Support Team has changed it’s name from Third Sector Health and Social Care Support Team . As such we will we join with the House of Care and Self Management programmes to form the ALLIANCE’s Self Management and Co-production Hub. These programmes share common themes focused around the principles of co-production and people powered care. Individually they contribute to the delivery of the vision for health and social care integration by helping to align the assets of the Public, Third and Independent Sectors with those of individuals and communities through the processes of capacity building, education, networking and communication. Reorganisation of these functions around a Hub will enhance the synergy between these component programmes. The flexibility and critical mass created by the Hub will benefit stakeholders by supporting the wider social movement required to pick up the momentum and adoption of integration, self management and co-production within Health & Social Care partnerships and Integration Joint Boards.

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