Members update from ALLIANCE Chief Officer

Dear members, 

It has been a busy month across our programmes as we finalise plans for our annual conference and AGM on 30 April.  I am looking forward to seeing those of you on the day.  

Health and social care reform  

I mentioned last month that I had written to the CEO of NHS Scotland, Caroline Lamb.  Caroline is also the head of the civil service for health and social care. The letter was to request that the third sector be represented within the governance group which is overseeing the reform work in Scottish Government. I received a response from Caroline which acknowledged the significant role that the third sector plays in achieving reform. However, I was informed that the Reform Executive is solely an internal Scottish Government group and does not have any external representation.  

The letter instead focused on the three documents which Scottish Government has been working on to set the direction for reform:  

• The Operational Improvement Plan, published on Monday 31 March.  

• A Population Health Framework, a 10 year plan focused on preventing ill health and improving health. This has still to be published. 

• A Health and Social Care Reform Renewal Framework, a medium-term approach to reform which will be published before summer Parliament recess. The ALLIANCE are planning an engagement session with members on 7 May at 10am to allow you to share your views. To register for the session please visit our website.

While the ALLIANCE welcomed the recognition of the role the third sector plays, I feel that the third sectors contribution is still not being fully recognised.  The focus seems to be on the opportunity to work with the sector to engage with people with lived experience. As you know, the third sector also helps to shape the communities we live in and delivers a range of personalised support and services which enhance people’s health, wellbeing and independent living.   

We need to see a more active role for the sector in delivering reform. The ALLIANCE will continue to raise this with Scottish Government colleagues.  

ALLIANCE evidence review 

The ALLIANCE supported the reform work last year to make sure that people’s views and experiences people featured in Scottish Governments plans. This involved reviewing our evidence about what people had shared with us and what matters to them when accessing health services.  We have finalised the report of the findings along with a BSL translation and Easy Read version, which are available on our website

Population health framework  

You may have attended one of the engagement sessions we held on the population health framework. We shared your views in a short summary report, which you can read on our website. We are currently waiting for the final version to be published. There will be a session on this at our annual conference.  Part of this work involves the Marmot places in Scotland work which Public Health Scotland are coordinating with Sir Michael Marmot’s centre for health equity. If you are interested in finding out more about this, the following webpage has information  

A welcome focus being brought forward by this population health framework is of the ways in which commercial actors can support or undermine health and equity. This is an area we have been working on through our reducing gambling harms programme. Next week there will be the introduction of a statutory levy on gambling operators to provide greater investment in prevention, treatment and support.  This will mean additional money to support people in Scotland.  

Primary care and community health steering group 

In June last year, Scottish Government set up a primary care and community health steering group to help them develop a plan to reform and strengthen primary care across Scotland. The ALLIANCE sits on this group alongside Voluntary Health Scotland.  The group has now met six times and discussed refreshing the vision for primary care, workforce, funding mechanisms, digital care, and standards.  A strong message from members of the group is the need to increase the investment in primary care.  We have offered to host member engagement on this work and hope to be able to support you to share your views.  

Long term conditions strategy  

You may also be aware that the Scottish Government will soon be consulting on a new integrated Long Term Conditions Strategy, which will focus on ensuring equitable access to the services that people with long term conditions need. Our understanding is that the strategy will exist alongside condition specific action plans. This should allow for targeted action on condition-specific care and support where this is needed. However, I realise this is likely to be area of concern for some members. The consultation will launch in April, and we will be holding engagement sessions for members to gather your views. 

Third sector funding 

I mentioned last month that members have been in touch with us about the funding challenges that are being faced at local Health and Social Care Partnership level.  We have written to the Chief Officers group and the Chairs and Vice Chairs network to highlight the issues on behalf of members and are awaiting a response.  I am sharing the letter for your awareness.  

Social security  

Finally, we noted with concern the Chancellor’s spring statement. In particular, the changes to social security support for disabled people and people with long term conditions who will be disproportionately impacted by the changes to the social security system at the UK level. The ALLIANCE will be responding to the green paper consultation and will be engaging with members on this over the coming months.