More care at home for Scotland’s elderly

Health board boundaries will be aligned with local authority areas to help ensure older people can receive the care they need at home.

Health Secretary Alex Neil revealed that catchment areas for health boards will be realigned with council boundaries, to help them work closer together in the provision of care in the local community.

The announcement comes the week after a new bill designed to ensure that the health and social care systems work together effectively to improve the provision of care in our communities was published.

Mr Neil said: “People in Scotland are living longer, healthier lives and this means that services need to adapt in order to meet the challenges of a rapidly ageing population.

“That is why we are bringing health and social care together, to improve care for people in communities, helping to anticipate their needs and reaching them before they need to be admitted to hospital or institutional care.

“However, any mismatch of health board and local authority boundaries presents an administrative barrier to closer integrated working, complicating the planning and delivery of health and social care services.

“We want to ensure that the responsibility for delivering health care matches the geographical boundaries of local authority partners.

“These changes will help improve the quality and consistency of care for older people and people with complex care needs.”

The boundary changes will come into effect from April 2014.

These are administrative changes and patients will stay with the same GP practice and continue to receive treatment in their local hospital, even if their catchment area has changed.

In most health board areas less than 300 patients will be affected by the change, although over 72,000 patients will be transferred from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to NHS Lanarkshire, with around 1600 moving the opposite way.