In Depth: Ellon Health Centre plan is pushed back
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At the Formartine Area Committee on Tuesday a report from the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) on the Strategic Delivery Plan has highlighted local issues, including the current moratorium on the capital programme which has been instigated by the Scottish Government.
On the provision of a new Ellon Health Centre AHSCP's Angela Macleod said: "The Scottish Government has advised NHS Boards to pause work on projects which require capital funding.
"This is because a new process for applying for capital funding is being developed.
"Following discussion, a working group is being set up to determine what options we have for increasing capacity for delivery of medical and clinical services to the Ellon Community.
Commenting councillor Gillian Owen said, “I'm really disappointed to see that the new Ellon Health Centre has been pushed back.
"This will be a bitter blow for the Ellon and District residents.
"To us this is a priority and needs to reinforced at all levels of Government.”
Gillian added, “A plea to the Scottish Government please, please get on with this new process, our Health Centre is no longer fit for purpose, its full to the brim and this needs to be addressed pronto!
"As the residents do need a modern state of the art facility to take on the medical issues faced by the residents”
Work is ongoing to improve the services which are currently provided at the Ellon practice and staff are looking at how the site is used to ensure the health board is making the most of the space there.
Councillor Isobel Davidson said the delay was very disappointing news as local residents had faced a long wait for the new facility: “We’ve been so optimistic it will happen and it just keeps getting a little bit further away which is so sad.”
Specific issues in the Formartine area were also discussed in the report including the increasing situation that care at home demand continues to exceed capacity.
There is continued pressure around delayed discharges particularly impacted by the availability of care at home and care home places.
In relation to Primary Care, delivering Community Treatment and Care Services is a challenge for the Ellon and Pitmedden areas due to staffing and budget constraints and lack of suitable clinical space.
Additional services such as First Contact Physiotherapy, Urgent Care Practitioners and Pharmacotherapy Services are generally working well across Formartine and are valued by the Practice teams.
The report also noted that following the decision by GP Partners at Fyvie/Oldmeldrum Practice to hand back their GMS contract to the NHS Board the AHSCP took over the running of the practice as of April 17, practice staff and two former GP partners are now employed by the AHSCP.
Praise was made for the efforts of staf fat Dawson Court Very Sheltered Housing Support Service in Turriff where a short notice inspection of Dawson Court was undertaken by the Care Inspectorate in April .
A number of very positive areas of feedback were received.
Dawson Court is also currently part of a project being led by the Location Manager for Turriff and Oldmeldrum, alongside Pleyfaulds House in Inverurie, to review the current VSH service model.
A number of engagement sessions have been held with residents, relatives and staff from both services to gather their views and experiences.
A Rehabilitation and Enablement project is being led by the Location Manager for Ellon and Pitmedden as part of the AHSCP’s Social Care Sustainability Programme.
Rehabilitation and Enablement is an intensive, time limited intervention through which people are supported to recover daily living skills after a period of illness, injury or increased frailty.
The project aims to embed an intake model of rehabilitation and enablement for older people and people with physical disabili ties, with teams working together to support people to regain and maintain their abilities before making decisions about their longer-term care needs.
A local group has been established and Project Officers commenced in post to lead implementation with the team in Formartine.
Westbank Care Home, Oldmeldrum was inspected on March 2 as a follow up from the December 2022 inspection at which time an improvement
notice was issued.
The five previously issued requirements were all deemed met within set timescales and no complaints had been upheld since the last inspection. Subsequently the home has been reopened to phased admissions.
North East Advocacy visited the home to talk to stakeholders about their experiences and submitted a report to the Adult Support and Protection network.
