Integrated health and social care budgets need better coordination, warn MSPs

Integrated joint boards - credit Scottish Government

Integrated health and social care partnerships must better coordinate budgets and link them to outcomes, a Holyrood committee has warned.

In a new report MSPs of the Health and Sport Committee expressed disappointment that the majority of integrated bodies in Scotland started the financial year without a finalised budget in place.

Some of the partnerships had yet to agree a budget by October.

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Among the committee’s recommendations was that the Scottish Government should negotiate a formal timetable for setting budgets and give the partnerships “clear parameters” for measuring the impact of their budgets on outcomes.

The report said: “We recommend realigning budgets should not just be encouraged by the Scottish Government but there should be a clear commitment by the Scottish Government to ensure NHS boards set their budgets in alignment with local authorities.”

The committee’s convener Neil Findlay MSP said: “There is no doubt that the delivery of our health and social care needs to undergo fundamental change. Along with increased demand on services and financial challenges, it is even more important we ensure these partnerships are working for people in Scotland.

“This is why we’ve made some specific recommendations for areas we think need to be tackled if we are to achieve the promised transformational change.”

The integrated boards were formed on 1 April 2016 after the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 formally integrated health and social care.