Strategy aims to protect social care quality

A proposed Quality Strategy for NI’s health and social care sector has been launched.

The Stormont Health Minister Edwin Poots (pictured) made the announcement while he was today formally opening the Beech Hall Health and Wellbeing Centre in west Belfast.

The strategy is for implementation in April 2012 and aims to establish a framework that will protect and improve quality within health and social care over the next 10 years.

“I am also officially launching my Department’s 10-Year Quality Strategy for Health and Social Care – Quality 2020.

“The Strategy provides a clear direction over the next 10 years to enable us to plan for the future and to protect and improve the quality of our services whatever challenges we may encounter,” said the DUP Minister, adding that the strategy has been in development for two years and has already involved input from many people including both staff and service users and has been the subject of public consultation.

The Minister concluded: “Throughout the health service we are currently facing major challenges including financial constraints.

“I want to assure every health service user that I will continue to strive to modernise and improve our healthcare systems and facilities thus ensuring we deliver an efficient, high quality health service that the people across Northern Ireland deserve.”

The Minister was also welcoming the new state-of-the-art facility at Beech Hall.

He said that it brings together a range of primary and community based health and social care services.

“The Beech Hall Health and Wellbeing Centre will provide high quality services, which are modern, flexible and integrated in a ‘one stop shop’, which will suit the needs of the local community,” he said.