Inspectors publish report on older people services in Fife
A joint inspection of services for older people in Fife has highlighted areas of good performance and also made recommendations where further improvements can be made.
The report, published today, follows a joint inspection led by the Care Inspectorate which looked at how well the health and social work services partnership between Fife Council and NHS Fife delivered good personal outcomes for older people and their carers across the area.
It identifies key areas of good practice but also made ten recommendations for improvement, including that “as a matter of urgency, the Fife Partnership should put measures in place to ensure that older people in Fife are discharged home or to a homely setting when they are ready for discharge.”
The report follows a of joint inspections carried out by teams of inspectors from the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
They looked at services across the area between April and June 2014.
Across nine quality indicators, two were found to be good, six were found to be adequate and one, “policy development and plans to support improvement in service,” was graded weak.
The report notes: “The Fife Partnership delivered positive outcomes for some older people and their carers and was able to provide a range of services to prevent avoidable admissions to hospital.
“For example, the Fife Partnership hospital at home project was supporting older people to stay at home or in a homely setting rather than being admitted to hospital for short-term medical intervention.
“However, the Fife Partnership’s performance on ensuring timely discharge from hospital for older people who were medically fit for discharge was more mixed.”
Annette Bruton, the Care Inspectorate’s Chief Executive, said: “By working with our partners we can ensure we build up an accurate picture of how services are performing.
“We want to answer the key question ‘how well are these services improving the lives?’
“Where there is room for improvement we do not hesitate to report on this and expect partnerships take the necessary action so that everyone in Scotland can access services which meet their needs and respect their rights.”
Robbie Pearson, Director of Scrutiny and Assurance for Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “This report clearly outlines that there are areas of good practice between Fife Council and NHS Fife as well as work to be done – especially with regard to ensuring that older people in Fife are discharged home or to a homely setting when they are ready to do so.
“Inspection is about improvement and we are confident that the 10 recommendations for improvement set out in this report will bring about important benefits to patients and to the community of Fife.”
The report is available here: http://cinsp.in/15jHYQx
