A summary performance report outlining achievements and reflecting on the progress of the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership over the last year has been published.
The summary report details how the Partnership will fulfil its ambition that each citizen will have access to the information and support that they need to live a fulfilled life.
During 2019/20 the partnership has reduced the number of days Dundee citizens spend in hospital as a result of an emergency by 13% from approximately 161,000 in 2015/16 to around 141,000 in 2019/20.
In addition, significant improvements have been achieved during the redesign and development of physiotherapy and occupational therapy teams in order to improve quality, patient outcomes and access to services. This service has been a front runner in the use of technology to improve access to services.
Chair of the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership Integration Joint Board, Trudy McLeay said: “This summary for 2019-20 shows that we are making significant progress on a number of fronts.
“Of the services we provide directly that were inspected last year, 100% received grades that were ‘good’ or better and 80% received grades of ‘very good’ or excellent.
“Through our collaborative work with the British Red Cross we were able to increase the amount of people who are able to live independently in their own home following assessment and reduced delays.
“I am also pleased how the partnership is working across communities in Dundee to help and support people in their local areas.”
The full annual report will be considered by the Integration Joint Board (IJB) later this year.
The Partnership’s Community Mental Health Teams have enhanced the level of support provided to people as they transition from hospital to home settings by establishing the Dundee Discharge Hub.
This provides additional wrap-around support to ensure that people are fully engaged with their community-based supports and treatments and are coping well with life at home.
Dundee Health and Social Care spokesperson Councillor Ken Lynn highlights that the partnership have listened to the findings of the Dundee Drugs Commission and Tayside Mental Health Inquiry.
Councillor Lynn said: “Increasing the availability of support for people experiencing distress remains a priority within Dundee. The views of people with lived experience of mental health challenges about what type of support would be helpful are varied and, as such, a range of solutions and developments have been prioritised.
“Going forward, we remain committed to providing supports that will be accessible at all times and as close to people's home setting as possible.
“These include, peer support drop-in settings in the city, accommodation with support within city sites that will provide short-term support to people experiencing distress, and establishing Distress Brief Intervention across Tayside.
These local improvements will be added to by nationally supported developments including an NHS 24 mental health line, Mental Health Assessment Centres and online resources.
Councillor Lynn added: “We will continue to strategically plan, and co-produce models of support in conjunction with people with lived experience and would encourage anyone with views and ideas to link with established networks."
The ongoing COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has meant that the partnership approach to the annual performance report has been adjusted.
Going forward Ms McLeay discussed the unprecedented challenges that COVID-19 is causing the partnership.
She said: “In order to deal with the outbreak of Coronavirus, partnership services have been rapidly re-designed to support the health and social care response to people who have been directly impacted by COVID-19, as well as to maintain essential services to individuals and wider communities.
“Across the Partnership a great deal of work has been carried out to support our dedicated workforce and upaid carers and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work during this difficult time.”
As the Partnership begins to develop their recovery plan this will set the context within which the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership will undertake wider improvement activities during 2020-21 and will have a significant impact on the capacity and resources available to address improvement priorities.
At this time the Partnership has identified a small number of improvement priorities from 2019-20 that will continue to be implemented over the next 12 months, as well as a small number of new areas that will be prioritised alongside COVID-19 recovery work.
The Partnership response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be reported in our next annual performance report.
For more details see: https://www.dundeehscp.com/sites/default/files/publications/dhscp_summary_201920_final.pdf