We’ve been providing updates over the course of the last 18 months on the process to review our Strategic Plan for health and social care in Glasgow City, and the extensive consultation and engagement work that we’ve undertaken with partners across the city to develop the new Plan for 2023 to 2026. Previous updates have focussed on the approach we took, involving and inviting staff, partners and service users from across the city to be part of a conversation on what is important to you to help inform what this new Plan looks like. Our new Strategic Plan was recently approved for implementation by the Integration Joint Board (IJB) at its meeting on 28 June.

The engagement and consultation that led to the new Plan for 2023 to 2026 started in late 2021 and ran through most of 2022. It was heavily influenced by our partners who co-designed and also in some cases carried out the activity to get feedback on the previous Plan and suggestions for what should be in the new Plan. There’s a comprehensive summary of the review activity and findings available on our Health and Social Care Partnership’s (HSCP) website. 

The more comprehensive approach to involving partners in designing the Strategic Plan means that our new Plan better reflects the views of the people with an interest in health and social care services, whether as a servicer user or patient, a carer, a member of staff or service provider. 

Some of the ways that feedback from those who took part in the review has shaped how the Plan looks include: 

• a new vision for the IJB and HSCP
• a greater focus on profiling and projecting levels of need 
• revised strategic priorities to reflect stakeholder suggestions
• a focus on the importance of staff health and wellbeing
• hyperlinks to other relevant strategies, plans and reports to reduce duplication and the overall length of the Plan 
• more information on our approach to equalities mainstreaming
• information on our approach to COVID recovery 
• acknowledgement of the need to involve people with lived experience and other partners more in service planning and design.

One of the key areas where stakeholder feedback heavily influenced the Plan was in relation to the IJB’s vision. Our revised vision is:
    
Communities will be empowered to support people to flourish and live healthier, more fulfilled lives, by having access to the right support, in the right place and at the right time.

In order to achieve this new vision, the following six partnership priorities have been developed. These take into account comments from the feedback we received alongside the wider strategic position of the IJB in supporting people to remain living safely and independently at home in their communities if they wish to do so.

1. Prevention, early intervention and well-being
2. Strengthening communities to reduce harm
3. Supporting greater self-determination and informed choice
4. A healthy, valued and supported workforce
5. Supporting people in their communities
6. Building a sustainable future.

One key change to our strategic priorities is the inclusion of a priority that reflects the importance of ensuring our staff are valued and supported to maintain their own health and well-being and deliver the best service possible to the people of the city. The other main addition to our priorities is acknowledgement of the need to build and maintain a sustainable health and social care system, both in terms of meeting the financial challenges facing all HSCPs in Scotland, but also in terms of ensuring we are well placed to meet the challenge of recruiting and retaining a well-trained and highly skilled workforce. We will not achieve sustainability without a focus on our own people.  

We’ve also had to make sure the Strategic Plan reflects the very challenging context within which all of us involved in delivering health and social care services are working. Many of you will have seen in the media how challenging the financial pressures facing IJBs are right now, and will continue to be in future years. It was important to ensure our Strategic Plan is honest and transparent about these challenges and the risks they pose. The Plan therefore balances our ambition and aspiration with the need to be realistic about what we may and may not be able to achieve during the lifetime of the Plan. 

Whilst we may not be able to deliver all of the services in the way we would ideally like to, as an IJB and HSCP we remain committed to delivering the best services we possibly can to the people of the city, in the right place and at the right time for them. 

For more information on our plan you can find it on the following link: Our Strategic Plan Webpage.

Any comments or questions can be sent to gchscpstrategicplan@glasgow.gov.uk.