Determined efforts are being made to try and free up beds in Ayrshire and Arran over the next few weeks as concerns grow over the “immense pressure” facing the health and social care system.
However the waiting list in North Ayrshire is at a record low.
This was revealed by councillor Margaret Johnson, North Ayrshire Council's Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care after SNP colleague Davina McTiernan asked how the service would cope with the impending winter period.
Councillor Johnson said: “Similar to other areas in Scotland the Ayrshire and Arran health and social care system remains under immense pressure.
“The impact and legacy of the pandemic is ongoing alongside the continued stresses placed on the workforce and increased demand for services.
"The pressures are most visible at the hospitals where emergency access performance standards are not met, there are ambulance delays to hand over patients, there is an increased length of stay.
“Despite efforts, continued pressures to date have not enabled the de-escalation of either acute hospital in Ayrshire and Arran and there has not been the closure of any of the additional beds opened to support the surge in Covid inpatient numbers.
“A further HSCP sponsored focused intervention is planned for two weeks from November 7, which will involve the three HSCPs deploying community teams into the acute sites to support patient discharge. There is a continued focus on prioritising packages of care for individuals in hospital.
“However, the impact of this is the continued risk posed to those in the community who have been assessed as requiring support.
“In North Ayrshire 85 per cent of the current hours of unmet need for care at home services are for individuals on the community waiting list and a significant number of individuals are awaiting assessment and review.
“In October 2021 over £300m of investment in hospital and community care was announced to support a range of measures with the overarching aim being to reduce risks in community settings and supporting flow through acute hospitals.
“A total of £3.4million was allocated to North Ayrshire specifically for interim care, Multi-Disciplinary Teams and Care at Home capacity, the majority of this funding has now been provided on a recurring basis.
"The North Ayrshire HSCP Winter Funding Plan was approved by the IJB in December 2021. This focuses on a whole system approach to bolstering the care workforce by increasing numbers of staff, with a longer-term focus on increasing capacity across our system and to invest in services which focus on early intervention and prevention and the alternatives to hospital admission.
“Recruitment is ongoing with a number of key posts now appointed to include additional Social Workers and Social Work Assistants, Community Occupational Therapists and Health Care Support Workers.
"For Care at Home there has been a constant focus on recruitment and these efforts have led to a net increase in the workforce over the period.
“This has led to a significant improvement in the hospital waiting list which in North Ayrshire is now sitting at the lowest position it has been, this also allows our in-house respite facility to return to fully providing respite support over the winter period.
"The position with commissioned care providers remains fragile with many citing difficulties in the recruitment and retention of staff.
"In terms of providing the reassurance of any winter plans in North Ayrshire I can reassure members that the HSCP have an investment plan in place to increase capacity and there are business continuity and escalation plans in place across services.
"The HSCP will continue to take all the necessary steps to manage and escalate the risk in the system, however despite this there is no doubt we are heading for a very difficult winter period for health and care services.”
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
