Concerns over integration
A £ 200 million plus service delivered jointly between the NHs and south Ayrshire Council must merge more, a meeting heard.
Auditors have warned the south Ayrshire Health and social Care Partnership should have a fully integrated budget.
And one councillor has announced the “jury is still out” on whether the merged service is effective.
Independent councillor Alec Clark told the Audit & Governance Panel: “the jury is still out on whether the integration of health and social care actually works. It has been imposed upon us.”
Currently the council and NHs Ayrshire & Arran both give a stream of cash each and dictate what their own separate contribution should be used for.
Latest figures show the council is pourring £ 71.4m into the total draft budget of £ 211.7 million.
Auditors from Deloitte told the Panel last Wednesday best practice would be to have an integrated budget.
tory councillor Hugh Hunter told the Panel: “that would take a huge leap of faith from the council and the NHs.”
speaking after the meeting, he added: “they run two separate budgets at the moment. the council give money and the NHs give money.
“It was truly integrated it would be one lump of money not the council’s or the NHs’s.
“Nobody is giving 100 per cent to integration and it comes from the scottish Government down. the scottish Government should have specified how it should be run. “
He added: “On the ground the staff are excellent.”
the Health and social Care Partnership is overseen by the Integrated Joint Board ( IJB).
so far the partnership is expected to end up about £ 4 million in the red by the end of the financial year.
the report presented to the Panel from Deloitte said: “At present, the IJB budget is still monitored against “south Ayrshire Council and “NHs Ayrshire & Arran “managed budgets, rather than a genuine pooled budget for the IJB as a whole.”
It added: “As is the case across scotland, the IJB should continue to work to resolve funding issues around shifting the balance of care between hospitals and communities.