The ALLIANCE’s Integration Support team review of 2020

Engagement and Integration Insights helped people and organisations continue to share their views on integration.

The ALLIANCE’s Integration Support team began 2020 with a roundtable event that gave third, independent and statutory sector representatives the opportunity to share their views on the implementation of the Framework for Community Health and Social Care Services. This event aim was to ensure that all sectors were involved as equal partners, with influence over both the approach taken and learning to be captured by the six early adopter areas.

Following this event, the team published Third and Independent Sectors as Partners, which reflected on the third sector’s involvement in health and social care integration, views on how the Framework for Community Health and Social Care Services should be implemented, how to do so in an inclusive manner, and what support will be required.

As lockdown restrictions came into place in March, and our usual face to face engagement became impossible, the team was forced to change the way we work. In response, we developed our new Integration Insights programme.

Integration Insights delved deeper into the learning we gathered though our range of activity in 2019. As a part of this, the team published outputs that included ALLIANCE Live content, Community in Action articles, opinion pieces, news items, social media content and reviews of previous publications. These outputs were shaped by different ongoing themes, examining the importance of relationships, leadership and engagement with regards to health and social care integration.

Within this programme, we explored the latter in more depth with our series of Engagement Insights events. Three well-attended online events were held as a part of this series (the fourth event will be delivered in February 2021):

• What is Engagement?
• Engagement – What Works and What Doesn’t?
• Power and Engagement
• Diversity, Equality and Engagement

A report will be published in 2021 summarising the event discussions and findings.

In addition to this, the team have also carried out scoping of Third Sector Interfaces and Integration Authorities’ response to COVID-19, connected with partners including Leadership for Integration and Health and Social Care Scotland, and continued to Chair and sit as active members on the Third Sector Health and Social Care Collaborative.

As a team, we have also supported a number of ALLIANCE-wide initiatives, including People at the Centre, Getting to Know GIRFEC, Membership, Community in Action, ALLIANCE Live, Readiness for Engagement, the Scottish Involvement Network, the ALLIANCE’s programme of engagement to support the Independent Review of Adult Social Care and the Tayside Mental Health Services Inquiry.

With planning sessions scheduled for the beginning of the year, we are now looking forward to building on the progress we have made as a team in 2021.

Reports of other ALLIANCE programme activities during 2020 can be found in our News section.

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