Strategic Plan Delivery Plan 2022 – 2025

Orkney Health and Social Care Partnership

IMAGE: A coastal landscape in Orkney at sunset, showing rocky shoreline, waves, open sea, and distant islands beneath a cloudy sky.

Contents

• Introduction — 4
• Priority: Developing Community Led Support approaches across Orkney — 6
  • Outline — 6
  • Strategic Intention — 6
  • This Strategic Priority Contributes to: — 6
• Priority: Mental Health — 8
  • Outline — 8
  • Strategic Intention — 8
  • This Strategic Priority Contributes to: — 8
• Priority: Supporting Older People to Stay at Home — 10
  • Outline — 10
  • Strategic Intention — 10
  • This Strategic Priority Contributes to: — 10
• Priority: Supporting Unpaid Carers — 13
  • Outline — 13
  • Strategic Intention — 13
  • This Strategic Priority Contributes to: — 13
• Priority: Early Intervention and Prevention — 15
  • Outline — 15
  • Strategic Intention — 15
  • This Strategic Priority Contributes to: — 15
• Priority: Tackling Inequalities and Disadvantage — 17
  • Outline — 17
  • Strategic Intention — 17
  • This Strategic Priority Contributes to: — 17

Introduction

Following on from the publication of the Orkney Health and Social Care Partnership Strategic Plan 2022 – 2025, this Delivery Plan seeks to provide details of how we intend to deliver the Partnership’s six Strategic Priorities, over the next three years.

Our Strategic Priorities were determined through a number of consultation and engagement exercises, undertaken by multiple statutory and third agencies, over the last several months, and considered within the context of a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, undertaken towards the end of 2021.

Consistent themes were immediately apparent, with mental health, the plight of unpaid carers, and the challenges faced as we grow old, high on the list of people’s concerns. These are areas that we will strive to improve, as part of our service provision.

Professional acknowledgment that services must respond to changing public expectation, budgetary challenges, staffing shortages and changing demographics, have resulted in new ideas and innovations in service delivery, such as Community Led Support.

IMAGE: A diagram shows Early Intervention and Prevention at the top, Tackling Inequalities and Disadvantage at the bottom, and four central priorities between them: Mental Health, Carers, Older People, and Community Led Support.

The priorities must be considered within the broader context and recognition that helping people to maintain their health and wellbeing, providing access to preventative services, and delivering for everyone, regardless of circumstance, will encompass every aspect of strategic planning and service delivery. We will use shared decision making to place our population at the centre of their care, always listening to what matters to you.

We must make mention, too, of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected every aspect of health and social care services and planning, and has directly influenced our plans for services, both in response to the current virus, as well as contingencies for any future viruses and pandemics.

Orkney Health and Social Care Partnership’s Strategic Plan, and this strategic Delivery Plan, should be read within the context of public services’ delivery, in Orkney. There are multiple strategic plans, issued by a number of responsible statutory and third sector agencies, all of which retain common themes. Despite attempting to tackle different challenges, all these plans seek to improve the overall health and wellbeing of the people of Orkney and, consequently, are inextricably linked.

Scottish Government, too, has a plan to improve health and wellbeing across Scotland. This plan is summarised in the nine National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes. (You can read more about these outcomes here.) You will find a summary of the Outcomes addressed by each of the Strategic Priorities, below.

Finally, it should be noted that no single Strategic Priority sits in isolation; each has a direct influence and effect on the others. This means co-production, across every aspect of service delivery in the health and social care sector (and in public services delivery, in general) is mandatory if we are to successfully deliver upon our stated Strategic Priorities and, most importantly, improve the health and wellbeing of people in Orkney.

Priority: Developing Community Led Support approaches across Orkney

Lead: Head of Strategic Planning and Performance.

Outline

Community Led Support aims to provide the foundation for a more modern, effective way of delivering health and social care support that strengthens individuals, and community resilience and wellbeing. It is based on joined up working and collaborations across a range of organisations and partners, working collaboratively in the interests of the community, and moves away from professionally led processes and decisions, with the aim of focusing on good, effective conversations with people.

Strategic Intention

Working with communities and partners to collaboratively design services with a focus on prevention, early intervention and on enabling people to be as independent as possible. This will strengthen integrated health and social care provision, improve mental health and wellbeing support, bolster partnership working and drive further development of Community Led Support / care in a co-designed approach.

This Strategic Priority Contributes to:

Outcome 7: People who use health and social care services are safe from harm. They do and are supported to continuously improve the information, support, care, and treatment they provide.

Outcome 8: People who work in health and social care services feel engaged with the work they do and are supported to continuously improve the information, support, care, and treatment they provide.

Outcome 9: Resources are used effectively and efficiently in the provision of health and social care services.

Priority: Mental Health

Lead: Head of Health and Community Care and Service Manager – Mental Health.

Outline

The Strategic Plan highlights that we think it is important that people who experience mental health problems receive the same level of social and clinical support as those with physical health problems, and that we have made a commitment to improve and develop mental health and wellbeing supports across Orkney, so that people can live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives.

Strategic Intention

Our strategic intention is described within the current Mental Health Strategy as “Helping people in Orkney to ensure that preventive measures are deployed at the earliest opportunity and that those with enduring mental health conditions live longer, healthier and more independent lives within their own communities. Getting it right for everyone applies equally to those with mental health conditions as it does those with physical health conditions.” In addition our intention is to bolster the current service and create a sustainable service, recognising the changes in need and demand from our local population.

This Strategic Priority Contributes to:

Outcome 1: People are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer.

Outcome 3; People who use health and social care services have positive experiences of those services, and have their dignity respected.

Outcome 5: Health and social care services contribute to reducing health inequalities.

Outcome 7: People who use health and social care services are safe from harm. They do, and are, supported to continuously improve the information, support, care, and treatment they provide.

Outcome 9: Resources are used effectively and efficiently in the provision of health and social care services.

Priority: Supporting Older People to Stay at Home

Leads: Head of Health and Community Care and Service Manager (Community Care).

Outline

Older people consistently tell us they would prefer to stay in their own homes, in their own communities, for as long as possible, rather than move into supported accommodation or residential care. Whilst we have invested significantly in improving sheltered and residential care for our most frail and vulnerable older people (such as the new care home in Stromness, and the planned new care facility in Kirkwall), we recognise people want to receive support, wherever possible, at home.

Strategic Intention

If we are to be more successful in meeting peoples’ preferences, we need to ensure we have an adequate workforce, appropriately remunerated and fully trained in the delivery of complex care. We need to ensure all possible use of technology is maximised and we need to ensure all community-based teams are working collaboratively together for the benefit of the people in our care.

We will work together with our partners across the health, care, and third sector to help people access activities and services to meet the needs of vulnerable older people.

We will ensure that people living with frailty are able to access well planned and well-coordinated services which are tailored to their individual needs and support their health, wellbeing, and independence at every stage of their condition.

This Strategic Priority Contributes to:

Outcome 1: People are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer.

Outcome 2: People, including those with disabilities or long-term conditions, or who are frail, are able to live, as far as reasonably practicable, independently and at home or in a homely setting in their community.

Outcome 9: Resources are used effectively and efficiently in the provision of health and social care services.

Priority: Supporting Unpaid Carers

Leads: Head of Health and Community Care and Head of Children, Families and Justice Services.

Outline

The Scottish Government has observed that the care system could not cope without the enormous contribution from unpaid carers. The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 recognised this contribution, promising to ‘promote, defend, and extend the rights’ of adult and young carers across Scotland. The Act enhances and extends the rights of carers, with carers now entitled to their own support plan.

The role of unpaid carers is also recognised in the Scottish Government’s nine National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes. This recognition is local, too, with support for unpaid carers being one of our strategic priorities.

Strategic Intention

The Carers’ Strategy Group, a group with membership from across the statutory and third sectors, as well as unpaid carer representation, is charged with delivery of the Carers’ Strategy.

The group is currently developing the new Carer Strategy, a document that will provide detail on how we will improve the lives of unpaid carers in Orkney. This strategy is being developed in collaboration with unpaid carers themselves: each of the actions included in the strategy, and in this plan, will be both articulated and validated by unpaid carers, themselves.

This Strategic Priority Contributes to:

Outcome 1: People are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer.

Outcome 2: People, including those with disabilities or long-term conditions, or who are frail, are able to live, as far as reasonably practicable, independently and at home or in a homely setting in their community.

Outcome 4: Health and social care services are centred on helping to maintain or improve the quality of life of people who use those services.

Outcome 6: People who provide unpaid care are supported to look after their own health and wellbeing, including to reduce any negative impact of their caring role on their own health and wellbeing.

Priority: Early Intervention and Prevention

Lead: Head of Children, Families and Justice Services and Associate Director – Allied Health Professions.

Outline

Our strengthened focus on prevention and early intervention will promote good, positive, physical and mental health, and wellbeing, for all people, whatever their age.

Strategic Intention

Prevention and Early Intervention, across the lifespan, is vital to all our priorities. We want to empower people to be more aware of, and responsible for, their health and wellbeing, whatever their age or background. We are committed to improving the overall health and wellbeing of children, young people, and adults, in Orkney. Communities and the local environment play an important role in promoting good health and providing opportunities to be active, to be involved, and to connect with others.

This Strategic Priority Contributes to:

Outcome 1: People are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer.

Outcome 4: Health and social care services are centred on helping to maintain or improve the quality of life of people who use those services.

Priority: Tackling Inequalities and Disadvantage

Lead: Chief Officer.

Outline

We are committed to:

• Working to keep children, young people, and vulnerable adults safe.
• Making sure that everybody can access the service or treatment that they might need, when they need it.
• Removing barriers to accessing services.
• Working with partners to address financial hardship.
• Ensuring Orkney is a safe and happy place to live, for everyone.

Strategic Intention

The provision of multi-professional, 21st century health and social care, which is tailored to the needs of our population.

This Strategic Priority Contributes to:

Outcome 5: Health and social care services contribute to reducing health inequalities.