£107m health and social care integration boost

First Minister Nicole Sturgeon has announced an extra £107 million is being invested into health and social care partnerships, ‘putting people at the heart of treatment’.

The investment will bring together NHS and local council care services for patients, in particular the elderly, and reduce the need for them to go into hospital for treatment. This will ensure that more people are cared for safely in their own homes, preventing avoidable admissions to hospital.

Sturgeon said: “Our social care system is world renowned and envied across the UK and, as a shared priority between the Scottish government and local government, spend on this has been protected in Scotland. This additional funding maintains that for 2017/18.

“This is in direct contrast to the situation in England and Wales where six consecutive years of cuts to local authority budgets have seen 26 per cent fewer people get the help they need. Across Edinburgh and the Lothians, funding for integrated health and social care has now topped £1 billion for next year which yet again enforces this government’s focus on ensuring health care remains a priority for the future.”