Caring For Our Community

Delivery of the Integration Joint Board’s Strategic Plan relies on partnership working between the council, NHS Shetland, Shetland Charitable Trust, other regional and national organisations (such as the Scottish Ambulance Service, NHS Grampian and other specialist health boards), voluntary sector providers and with individuals and families at the centre of decision making around their health and care needs.

Part of the ‘Shifting the Balance of Care’ Plan is focused on strengthening community ethos and supporting third sector colleagues as equal strategic partners in our work.  A Third Sector Liaison Forum has been established to discuss strategic issues, problems and solutions.

The Bruce Hall Terrace Extra Care Housing Service in Unst provides supported accommodation to eight people to enable them to stay at home in their community, with one member of staff on duty at all times.

The first Shetland Living Well Hub opened in Brae in November 2021, offering a drop-in service for anyone who needs to find out more about local health and social care support options.  It was part of the roll out of the Community Led Support (CLS) programme in Scotland, aiming to link communities with health and social care services in a way that people might find easier to access.  Following on from the success of the first hub, a second Living Well Hub was opened in Scalloway in April 2022.  

In February 2021, the Scottish Government allocated a £20 million Community Living Change Fund to Integration Authorities via NHS Boards to reduce the delayed discharges of people with complex needs, repatriate those people inappropriately placed outside of Scotland and redesign the way services are provided for people with complex needs.  The funding is to be available until 2024.

The Shetland Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) is responsible for delivering on Scotland’s strategy to improve health by preventing and reducing alcohol and drug use, harm and related deaths, ‘Rights, Respect and Recovery’, as well as the Alcohol Framework 2018 – ‘Preventing Harm – next steps in changing our relationship with alcohol’.

February 2023 marks three years since the Independent Care Review launched its findings and the work to #keepthepromise began.