Keith Grammar to host community planning meeting
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COMMUNITIES across Moray are being asked their views on how public services are delivered.
Public agencies need to work ever more closely with each other and communities to meet the twin challenges of increasing demand and diminishing resources.
A series of events are being held across the area to gauge views of how this can be done.
The one of the sessions takes place tonight (November 11) in the Memorial Hall in Dufftown from 7-9pm.
Other meetings are planned for Monday, November 16 at Buckie High School, Wednesday, November 18 at Milne’s High in Fochabers and Keith Grammar School on Thursday, November 19.
The events will include an introduction to the Moray Community Planning Partnership and its role of working with local communities to design, develop and deliver services.
The events will also provide an update on the development of the Moray Health and Social Care Partnership – a new partnership between NHS Grampian and the Moray Council to plan and deliver health & social care services in Moray.
Among the services to be integrated are those for adult and older people, social care including assessment and support, home care and day care; Community and primary care including general practices, public dental services, optometry and pharmacy, community hospitals, community nursing, health promotion, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. As well as these, some services associated with emergency care at Dr Gray’s will in future be planned and developed under the direction of the new body.
Chief Officer of the Moray Health and Social Care Partnership Pam Gowans will lead discussions with participants on the priorities for health and social care, to ensure community views are heard and listened to.
The Moray Community Planning Partnership was introduced in 2001. It brings together public agencies and the third sector in Moray to work together for planning into the future to provide better public co-ordinated public services. Key to its role is that the communities it serves are engaged and involved in those processes.
The areas it covers are education, health, emergency services, roads, the environment and the economy. These areas are covered within 5 groups together with a Community Engagement Group which sits alongside and reports to the Community Planning Board.
At the event the role of the Partnership will be explained in a short introduction and those attending can then tour the workshops to discuss the priorities and goals for each of the five core themes of the partnership and for the Community Engagement Group. The five core themes are: Health and Social Care; Children & Young People; Public Protection; Economic Development; and Sustainability & Communities.
Councillor Allan Wright, Chairman of the Moray Community Planning Partnership said: "I thoroughly welcome this opportunity to take the working of the partnership to the community it serves. Those attending can see how the partnership works, examine our priorities, see how we implement those strategies and give their opinion on how we could do it better. The message here is that this is your partnership and it will only work with involvement from the community."
Pam Gowans said: "At some point we are all likely to need support with our health and wellbeing so we can live well and independently at home or close to home. As they age an increasing number of people in Moray are living with frailty and have complex needs or more than one health problem and turn to family, friends and their community along with health and social care services for advice, care and support. We also have a number of people who have come through life from childhood to adulthood with particular conditions and we need to provide the best support that enables them to reach their full potential regardless of condition.
"Making sure our services work seamlessly together will mean people get the personal support that’s right for them when and where they need it without confusion or delay. We also need to work with the public to develop a joint understanding of when it is right to access health and social care through traditional routes, and when indeed there may be better ways to get assistance in a different way within the community in which you reside. Eg. What can your pharmacy do for you? What can community groups do for you?
"Integration is an opportunity to take forward the good work already happening locally and look for more innovative ways of working together so that we are co-ordinated, efficient and effective in delivering better outcomes for people. "We need to work in closer partnership with patients, service users, unpaid carers, those who provide services and the wider community to ensure we deliver person-centred care that builds on people’s strengths and promotes their well-being. These events are a real opportunity for the public to meet with us and discuss what they think their needs are and for us to work together to ensure we are making the most of our collective resources and ensuring a robust system of care for people and continue to ensure a Moray where people can flourish."
•Community Planning is a process which helps public agencies to work together and with the wider community to plan and deliver better services. The Moray Community Planning Partnership is the name for our local group of public agencies, which includes:
•Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE)
•HITRANS (the Highlands & Islands Transport Partnership)
•Moray College UHI
•NHS Grampian
•Police Scotland
•Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
•Skills Development Scotland
•The Moray Council (which is the lead agency in Community Planning in Moray)
•tsiMORAY (the local charity supporting and promoting volunteering, community action and social enterprise in Moray)
