A joint inspection of health and social work services for older people and their carers found a high range of quality services delivered by the Falkirk Partnership.
The report published today by the Care Inspectorate and Health Improvement Scotland also said health and social work staff worked well together delivering services which had helped transform older people’s lives across the Falkirk Council area.
Social work services and the majority of community health services are delivered by Falkirk Council and NHS Forth Valley.
The report highlights areas of good practice delivered by the Falkirk Partnership which include:
- 24/7 team provides good out of hours, short term and crisis interventions and support to older people
- The majority of older people and carers are happy with the services they received
- Good links between carers and GP practices
- Good access to training and development opportunities for staff
The report also highlighted good examples of early support and intervention. The Reablement at Home initiative is a range of services focussed on helping older people maintain their independence and re-learn skills they need to stay at home. In 2013/14 there has been a significant reduction in older people needing additional home care following input from the service.
Councillor Linda Gow, spokesperson for Health and Social Care said: “The report highlights the excellent joint working taking place as part of the Falkirk Partnership and recognises the wide range of initiatives which have been developed to assist and support older people to live healthily and safely in their own homes.
“The strong links and partnership working already in place between the two organisations bodes well for health and social care integration designed to get health and social care services to continue to work closer together.”
Kathy O’Neill, NHS Forth Valley’s General Manager for Community Health Services, said: "Working together is producing many positive outcomes for local people with good collaboration between health and social care staff across the Falkirk area. The Sensory Centre at Camelon was praised for the support it provides to local patients and the report also found excellent examples of joint working in palliative care services.
“We recognise, however, that there is more to do to further improve the wide range of services and support provided for older people across Falkirk and the new integrated arrangements will provide a vehicle to take forward this important work.”
The report also makes a number of recommendations which will be addressed by the new Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership as part of wider plans to deliver more integrated care which meet the needs of local communities across the Falkirk area.