Public engagement on Planning Older People’s Services priorities launched

A 12-week engagement and consultation schedule has been launched by East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership (ELHSCP) in relation to its Planning Older People’s Services project. Over the last 12 months, ELHSCP has been engaging with local communities, providers, and staff to identify, develop and prioritise suggestions that could support the delivery of older people’s services for generations to come.  In addition to an online survey, a series of public pop-up events have been scheduled, where members of the public are invited to come along and share their comments on the four identified priorities.

The Planning Older People’s Services Project (POPS) commenced its initial round of community events in August 2023, which included a variety of engagement opportunities including, online and paper surveys, face-to-face and virtual engagement sessions - held with communities, staff, the third and independent sectors; and individual interviews to gather as many views as possible.

Following these sessions, over 2,458 individual pieces of feedback were collected, including 314 suggestions on how East Lothian could provide sustainable older people’s services.  Over the next nine months, these suggestions have been categorised into a long list of options; assessed; short-listed; modelled, then further appraised by an internal ELHSCP project team and an Independent Community Panel.  This panel incorporates a representative selection of community members to act as a critical friend and oversee the project’s development, providing insight and input from a community perspective.

The four identified priorities to support the delivery of older people’s services are:

Priority 1: Review palliative and end of life care
This priority indicates a request to review and enhance the options available within palliative care, so people can plan and consider their preferences for their end-of-life care and treatment.

Priority 2: Polypharmacy reviews
This priority indicates an opportunity for a more coordinated approach to polypharmacy reviews undertaken in East Lothian. An ‘invest to save’ approach could see an increase in polypharmacy reviews aiming to reduce potential harm from medicines in older patients, improving quality of life, reducing medicines burden for patients, reducing avoidable hospital admissions, and ensuring medicines are used cost effectively across East Lothian.

Priority 3: Intermediate Care Services
This priority provides an opportunity to remain committed to developing intermediate care services to facilitate care closer to home and ensure that East Lothian’s population can remain within their own communities for as long as possible. Provision of efficient and effective intermediate care is also vital to alleviate pressure on hospital and care home beds.

Priority 4: Use of technology
This priority identifies an opportunity for enhancing the use of technology and increasing digital choice in order to support the development of efficient and sustainable services for older people, that are agile and responsive to the changing needs of the East Lothian population.

How to get involved:

ELHSCP is looking to engage with a wide range of people, who have an interest in or may be directly affected by the delivery of older people’s services in the future. This includes people currently making use of our services, their family members and/or carers, health and social care staff, community groups, third sector organisations, providers, partner organisations and the public who live and work in East Lothian and may require access to older people’s services in the future.

Complete the online survey:  www.eastlothian.gov.uk/pop-consultation
From the website, members of the public can share their views on the identified priorities and make comments on the engagement process to date, which is outlined in a presentation document.  Closing date for comments is 8 December 2024.

Attend an event:  ELHSCP will be hosting a series of in-person pop-up events, within each of the major towns in East Lothian. Members of the public are welcome to come along and share their feedback in person. There will be paper copies of our project findings as well as a feedback form.

Schedule of events: 

·         Saturday 28 September, 11:00-15:00, Fisherrow Centre, Musselburgh

·         Tuesday 1 October, 10:30-14:30, Fraser Centre, Tranent

·         Tuesday 8 October, 10:30-14:30, Bleachingfield Centre, Dunbar

·         Tuesday 15 October:

·       10:00-13:00, John Gray Centre, Haddington

·      14:00-16:00, East Lothian Community Hospital, Haddington

·         Thursday 24 October, 10:30-14:30, Pennypit Centre, Prestonpans

·         Tuesday 29 October, 10:30-14:30, Hope Room, 34 Forth Street, North Berwick

Alternatively, members of the public can email your views directly to the project team via:  engagement-hscp@eastlothian.gov.uk   

Furthermore, a dedicated website providing full details of the background to this project, as well as the engagement and selection process to date to arrive at the four priorities is detailed on www.eastlothian.gov.uk/elhscp/pops.

Fiona Wilson, Chief Officer and Joint Director of ELHSCP comments, “East Lothian’s population is changing, and people are living longer.  We know many older people want to stay at home for as long as possible.  To make this possible, the development of high quality, sustainable services are required. With increasing financial pressures facing the public sector, we cannot develop these services alone.  Throughout the POPS project, we have involved the people of East Lothian to be part of the conversation.  At this final stage, it is important we continue to do so.  ELHSCP wants to develop services that will support our older population for generations to come.”