Summary of Integration Joint Board meeting: January 2024

Falkirk’s Integration Joint Board, responsible for the strategic planning and operational oversight of local health and social care services, met on 31 January 2025. Here’s a summary of what member’s discussed:

Chief Officer Report

Presented at each board meeting, the Chief Officer report provides an overview of local, regional, and national updates across health and social care. This report presented a range of updates, including:

• The Partnership’s 2025 Budget consultation is underway, seeking views on proposals to help meet a £21m budget gap over the next three years. The consultation is open until 25 February, with over 200 responses to the online survey so far. Further info is available at www.falkirkhscp.org/budget-2025
• The Partnership has been selected to participate in a national evaluation workstream for Adult Support and Protection practices. The Partnership will work with the Joint Inspection Team (Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland) to codesign a self-evaluation process which focuses on support, early intervention, prevention, and trauma informed practice.
• The formal determination of a Fatal Accident Investigation relating to the deaths of 2 prisoners within HMP Polmont in 2018 was released on 17 January 2025. The determination made 25 recommendations over 15 categories – 3 of which relate to healthcare teams.

The Chief Officer also gave an additional verbal update, thanking all colleagues for their response to the recent red weather warning.

Financial Updates

The Chief Finance Officer gave members an update on the challenging 2024/25 financial position and outlined steps underway to set next years budget. Key updates include:

• An updated expected £6.772m overspend on integrated budgets.
• The Partnership has identified £3.442m of unachievable savings against its overall £18.429m approved savings within this financial year.
• An updated use of £5.164m of reserve funding is required to meet the overspend for 2024/25.

Within the IJB Draft Business Case and Medium-Term Financial Plan, the Board was asked to endorse the proposed social care charges ahead of approval by Falkirk Council on 6 March. The proposed charges, which are also included within the public Budget 2025 consultation, will increase the maximum charge for day care, and non-personal care and support by £15.85 per week. For 2025/26 this will bring the maximum charge to £50 per week for people aged under 65 and £33.60 for people aged over 65.

The report also gave an update on the Partnership’s funding for third sector and community projects. A review exercise and co-designed evaluation process was conducted with involvement of funded partner organisations, with a paper due at the March IJB meeting to outline 2025/26 funding allocations. The intention is to reduce the funding package to 90% of the 2024/25 funding level. This is in line with wider work to address a £21m budget gap over the next three years, with all areas of the Partnership working together to deliver services and support as efficiently as possible.

Further information about the Partnership’s Budget setting process is available at www.falkirkhscp.org/budget-2025

Integration of new services into Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership

Falkirk Council’s Children and Families Social Work Services and Justice Social Work Services will formally become part of the Partnership from 1 April. The Integration Joint Board endorsed the final decision on the integration of services, following initial approval received from NHS Forth Valley and Falkirk Council earlier in the week.

Further information about this change can be found on the Partnership’s news pages.

Locality Planning

The Board approved a draft locality plan for the Central Falkirk locality area, and received an update about the process to develop similar plans for East and West localities. The plans are being developed to support local development of services, and implement the principles of the Scottish Government’s Localities Guidance. For the Central Locality area, four priority areas have been identified through public and partner consultation:

• Making it easier to manage your health & wellbeing.
• Improved access and availability of community-based resources.
• Reducing mental health harms and supporting recovery.
• Improved Partnership working.

The Central Locality Plan includes a delivery plan, providing detailed actions and measurements to monitor its implementation. Work has already begun on development of the East Locality Plan, and the process for the West Locality will also begin shortly.

Board meetings and membership

The Board appointed two new carers representatives, following a collaborative recruitment process supported by Falkirk and Clackmannanshire Carers Centre and the Carers Voices Group.
Local carers, Elaine and Sharon, have been appointed to their posts for up to three years, joining members from Falkirk Council, NHS Forth Valley, and voices from service users, third sector organisations, and staff on the Board. Further information about these appointments can be found on the Partnership’s news pages.

Through the IJB Governance paper, the Board also:

• Confirmed an updated Integration scheme will now be submitted to Scottish ministers for approval. The scheme was updated following public and partner consultation and also reflects the integration of Children’ Social Work and Justice Social Work services into the Partnership.
• Approved a terms of reference document for the newly established Performance, Audit, and Assurance Committee.
• Approved Gordon Johnstone as Chair of the new Performance, Audit, and Assurance Committee.

Further information about the Performance, Audit, and Assurance Committee, which held its first meeting on 17 January can be found on the new committee webpage.

Annual Report of the Chief Social Work Officer 2023/24

The Board received an overview of how the statutory responsibilities of the Chief Social Work Officer have been fulfilled. The annual report covers the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 and has been submitted to the Scottish Government following its approval from Falkirk Council on 12 December 2024.

During the reporting year, the most prominent challenges included the need to address the cost-of-living crisis; tackling poverty; and improving overall wellbeing amidst a complex financial landscape. The report also noted several service improvements during this period, which include:

• The successful transition of Cunningham House into a rehabilitation support facility, offering stays of 6-12 months for people with physical reablement needs.
• The staff-led transformation of Thornton Gardens, which offers short breaks of up to two weeks for adults living with a learning disability. The home’s renovation of its six ensuite rooms and communal spaces has been key to achieving the services’ ‘Very Good’ Care Inspectorate rating.
• The launch of Care Opinion as a new online feedback platform for all local health and social care services in Falkirk. During this period, 93% of the 53 stories received were positive.

Further information

All Integration Joint Board meetings are livestreamed on Falkirk Council’s Committee Meetings YouTube channel. A recording is available to watch shortly after. A copy of all Board reports can be found on the Falkirk Council committee webpages.

The next meeting of the Integration Joint Board will be 31 March 2025. The Performance, Audit, and Assurance Committee will next meet on 07 March 2025.