Health and social care - service renewal framework: equality impact assessment

Executive summary

This Equalities Impact Assessment provides an overarching account of the current state of health inequalities across various protected groups to support the development and delivery of Scotland’s Service Renewal Framework.

The Service Renewal Framework (SRF) is a reform initiative aimed at transforming health and social care in Scotland, promoting a vision where individuals lead longer, healthier lives. The SRF has been developed collaboratively, taking a refreshed cross-government and cross-sectoral approach to health and social care.

It is a document which sets out the framework within which system leaders and staff, along with the wider population, will plan future health and social care services. It focuses on building on areas of good practice and shifting towards new models of care, driven by the needs of the population and the people that use the services. It focuses on five key principles, with an emphasis on responsiveness to the needs of specific groups and individuals a main theme underpinning the Framework.

1. Prevention – Prioritize preventive measures over reactive sickness responses.

2. Population – Focus on population needs instead of structural boundaries.

3. Community – Implement community-based models rather than hospital-centric approaches.

4. People – Centre care around individuals rather than the ‘system’ or ‘service.’

5. Digital – Adopt modern, integrated digital solutions over outdated methods.

These principles provide an evidence-based and value-driven foundation which will enable how we plan services for the future, make decisions, and deliver change. Building on these five principles, the framework set out key areas of change required to deliver services that are connected, integrated and support communities:

• Enhancing services that prevent disease, enable early detection and effectively manage long-term conditions
• A commitment to people-led and ‘Value-Based’ health and care
• Strengthening integration across the system
• Improving access to services and treatments in the community
• Redesigning our hospitals as we deliver more care within communities
• Services which are accessible through digital technologies, with people and our workforce able to access the right information

Over its’ 10 year lifespan this framework will provide the guidance and authority for staff and system leaders to plan and deliver on the key transformations that are needed to ensure that health and social care services are designed and delivered in ways that are inclusive, equitable, and responsive to the needs of all communities.

While this initial assessment sets out population level trends in relation to health and social care for protected groups, further impact assessments will be developed as appropriate for individual actions as the Framework is implemented. This iterative process will ensure that the delivery of the Framework takes into account specific needs and challenges faced by different protected groups.