NHSScotland 2020 Local Delivery Plan Guidance

3. NHS Board Contribution to Community Planning Partnerships

NHS Boards are key partners within Community Planning Partnerships

Last year the Local Delivery Plan included a new section on the contribution NHS Boards make to Community Planning Partnerships. There is a consensus in Scotland that effective community planning arrangements will be key strategic building blocks at the core of public service reform. The importance of removing barriers to effective partnership working and the need to ensure that leadership and cultures, systems and structures, and accountability arrangements across the public sector fully enable the delivery of better outcomes for communities are fundamental. NHS Boards are key partners within Community Planning Partnerships and have a crucial role to play in delivering improvements on a local and national basis. Community Planning Partnerships focus on a small number of key priorities: economic recovery and growth; employment; early years and early intervention; safer and stronger communities, and offending; health inequalities and physical activity; and older people. Like all public bodies, there is an expectation that NHS Boards as CPP partners have an evidence based understanding of local needs and opportunities which is translated in to prioritised plans and delivery of improved outcomes.

NHS Boards targeting CPP contributions where health is poorest

NHS Boards are expected to include in their LDP a concise summary of the key tangible contributions that the NHS Board will make during 2014/15 towards improved outcomes in economic recovery and growth; employment; early years and early intervention; safer and stronger communities, and offending; health inequalities and physical activity; and older people. NHS Scotland is pursuing a preventative agenda including a focus on immunisation, tackling Scotland's relationship with alcohol, smoking and smoking cessation, levels of physical activity and measures which help prevent suicide and detect cancer early.

Clearly national improvements through HEAT and other programmes play an important role in supporting CPP delivery. This part of the LDP is expected to focus on locally developed improvements with a strong emphasis on changes to NHS services which reduce future demand by preventing problems arising or dealing with them early on. Targeting those communities where health is poorest is key. Helping people understand why this is the right thing to do, the choices it implies as well as the benefits it can bring will be crucial. These contributions are expected to be developed through the SOA and NHS Boards will be developing the planned contributions through local Community Planning Partnership and NHS Board structures.

Where appropriate current performance and planned improvements in performance should be included. CPP contribution plans are required for each CPP and will mutually reinforce the I & C Plans which are at NHS Board level. The Scottish Government will discuss progress against these commitments at mid-year stock takes and Annual Reviews.

Tackling the inequalities faced by people with a learning disability

The Keys to Life Learning Disability Strategy highlights the stark inequalities faced by people with a learning disability. The invisibility of people with learning disabilities in Scotland's health information prevents the existing inequalities from being addressed. It is essential that the I & C Plan identifies priorities for action and drives improvement work at service level. Each NHS Board needs to identify its population with a learning disability using primary and secondary care NHS services.