How Good Is Our Service 2024/25 - Health and Social Care Partnership

This report reflects progress on performance relating to the Council’s operational delivery of statutory social work services, which are integrated with NHS services under the strategic governance of the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) Board.

Service quality and outcomes associated with these specific social work services are the main focus of this report. The wider objective is that improved customer and organisational outcomes can be achieved through successful integrated planning and collaborative delivery of health and social care functions, under single management, with a combined budget, working to a single set of outcomes and operating to a single Strategic Plan. The impact and performance of these integrated health and social care services overall are reported on a quarterly and annual basis to the HSCP Board and through agreed representation and reporting arrangements to the Council.

Overall the HSCP has performed well against its performance measures, with 11 performing on or above target, 1 below target, and 1 where the data is not yet available. The performance measure which performed below target is:

• The balance of care for looked after and accommodated children hasn’t met target this year with 82% of children being looked after and accommodated within a family home setting against a target of 89%. Work is ongoing to redress the balance of care by reviewing out of authority placements and continuing with the Foster Carer recruitment campaign.

Further detail can be found in section 2 in the document below.

Key Achievements

Key achievements are outlined below that demonstrate improved performance management processes and continuous improvement:

• East Dunbartonshire achieved Green status for Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards 1-5 and Provisional Green for standards 6-10, which were the highest ratings available in 2023/24. The MAT standards are evidence based standards to enable the consistent delivery of safe, accessible, high-quality drug treatment across Scotland. 
• Meet the Services event held in Kirkintilloch to give members of the public to meet team members and learn about different services provided.
• Publication of the Older People Local Area Co-ordination Service annual newsletter 2023/24.
• Approval for District Nurses to implement the first protocol in Scotland to share imaging with consultants, enabling care and treatment to continue at home.
• Children’s services have been nominated in four categories of the Who Cares? Corporate Parenting Awards, with some nominations submitted by young people/service users.
• Ferndale was identified as a Promise Corporate Parent and can now coach the young people in their care through the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and the Prince’s Trust Awards.
• Waiting times for clients referred to community-based drug and alcohol treatment were above target for the last quarter of 2023/24, with 96.6% waiting three weeks or less.
• Positive feedback on the Q1 2024-25 report on delivery of Medication Assisted Treatment standards highlights the peer navigator within justice to support individuals through the various pathways; progress on the new treatment room and plans to finalise the controlled drug licence application process; and plans to utilise joint development sessions on revised protocols within interface guidance to fully embed new practise.
• Approval of the HSCP Communication & Engagement Strategy (2024-29) which provides clear and consistent approaches to communication and engagement with our patients, service users, carers and stakeholders.
• Four nominations in the Who Cares? Scotland Corporate Parenting Awards and winner of the award for Excellence in Innovation.
• Improved results for the waiting times of people referred for help with problematic alcohol or drug use waiting times, with 97% meeting target times in 2023/24 and 98.7% in the first quarter of 2024/25.
• The highest percentage of people waiting less than 18 weeks to start psychological therapies in the Greater Glasgow & Clyde area in 2023/24 (97.4%).
• The Allander Resource Centre was a winner in the Diversity in the Public Sector category at The Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Awards 2024. Judges noted the integration with the community, fostering partnerships, and the delivering of a vital inclusive service in a public sector space. 
• The House Project had a very successful annual review which highlighted that over the course of the project, 22 young people have been supported to move into their homes, with another 2 moving since the review took place. The project currently supports 33 young people with a new cohort of 8 young people due to commence. The review emphasised that over 70% of young people in the East Dunbartonshire House Project community were in education, training or employment which is higher than the national average for care leavers. 
• The coproduction of East Dunbartonshire’s Local Advocacy Plan 2024-27, a partnership plan between the HSCP, East Dunbartonshire Council, Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board, and our local and national Advocacy Partners.
• The new HSCP website was launched on 31st October.
• The Allander was the winner in the Leisure and Arts category of the Glasgow Institute of Architects awards.
• Three public consultations were launched to gather the views of stakeholders on the draft HSCP Strategic Plan 2025-30; the draft Fair Access to Social Care Services (Children and Families) Policy; and the HSCP’s budget for 2025/26.
• East Dunbartonshire has been awarded the Gold Level Two Digital Telecare Implementation Award in recognition of the recent progress of the analogue to digital telecare transition project.
• The Primary Care Mental Health Team have launched a digital self-referral system to allow patients the flexibility to self-refer at any time to the service.
• During the second quarter of 2024/25, the Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service continued to exceed the Scottish Government’s 90% target for waiting times for people referred for help, with 96% of people referred to the service waited no longer than three weeks for their first treatment.
• In our most recent online patient survey for the Primary Care Mental Health Team, 97% of respondents reported an overall improvement in relation to symptom management whilst 80% of respondents were generally satisfied with the treatment they received. Comments highlighted that our patients valued our compassion and empathy, patient-centred and tailored CBT approach, and over 95% of respondents felt validated and heard in their treatment sessions.
• The Community Support Team provide a support service to over 100 children and young people and their families in East Dunbartonshire. In a recent report from the Care Inspectorate, the service was praised for being understanding, insightful, committed to their work and reflective about their practice. Following an unannounced inspection in January 2025, the service received sector leading grades.
• The HSCP Strategic Plan 2025-30, setting out our strategic direction with a programme of action to deliver against our strategic priorities and enablers, and our Annual Delivery Plan for 2025/26 were finalised and approved by the Integration Joint Board.

View the rest of How Good Is Our Service 2024/25 - Health and Social Care Partnership in the documents section below.