Seamless care services are being promised in Aberdeen, thanks to a £250million merger between the NHS and the local authority.
A new partnership comes into force tomorrow bringing together NHS and Aberdeen City Council services to offer more patient-centred care in the city.
Health and council chiefs met with the press yesterday to announce details of the new Aberdeen Health and Social Care partnership.
It will be responsible for the delivery of adult primary health care and adult social care, with a revenue budget of £250million per year.
By cutting paperwork and unnecessary duplication, the integrated system aims to get people out of hospital sooner, assist older people in staying at home for longer and give care staff the opportunity to spend greater time with clients.
GPs, community nurses, social workers and voluntary sector staff will work together in multi-skilled teams overseen by the new partnership.
The move is also designed to boost mental health services, providing more straightforward access to care.
The partnership is overseen by an Integration Joint Board with members including staff from Aberdeen City Council, NHS Grampian and voluntary sector workers.
IJB chairman, Len Ironside explained that services would change through evolution, not revolution.
The Aberdeen councillor said: “Long term, many things will change, but initially there will be no change to the service.
“What we are going to be doing is putting the person right in the centre of all of this.
“It’s a great way to move forward, because the services we have are a bit fractured. People don’t know where to go and this will all be in the local communities.”
IJB vice-chairman Jonathan Passmore said the move was a “fundamental shift” in how health and social care was delivered for a population with increasingly complex needs and a growing number of senior citizens.
He added: “What the patient wants is a single journey of care and not to have to go to different points of contact.
“What we want to do is to remove some of the barriers that are inevitable with having two systems.”
The partnership is one of 31 health and social care partnerships formed across Scotland as part of a Scottish government programme to improve health and social care.
