West Caithness Service Redesign - patient feedback
1. Introduction
This short survey should take you no longer than 5 minutes to complete. NHS Highland would like to find out the views of local people who use health services.
Your answers are important to NHS Highland. A summary of all the comments received will be used to inform the options for further consideration. Some comments will be included in the sumamry as direct quotes, but no individual will be named or identified. The Clinical Governance Team will collate the results.
Current issues: The need for change
The service improvement and redesign work going on in West Caithness is also happening across North Highland Community Health Partnership, NHS Highland, and, the whole of Scotland.
Scottish Government health policy is strongly based on the need to shift some types of healthcare from hospital based services to community services. This is partly in response to the wishes of patients who have said that services should be as close to home as possible, and should help people to maintain their independence for as long as possible. It is also a necessary response to the changing needs of the population.
One important fact is that the proportion of older people is rising, and of those, there are increasing numbers who are very elderly and have complex, multiple health conditions. Another factor is the increasing level of long term conditions in the general population, i.e. conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, mental health conditions, and cancer, many of which need long term healthcare and support. In addition, there is a constant stream of new medical technologies, treatments and drugs which we want to bring to our patients.
The NHS therefore needs to constantly adapt and change so that services are:
• Up to date
• Safe and effective
• Meeting the needs of individual patients
• Cost effective
The financial situation nationally, is having a significant impact on NHS budgets. For the foreseeable future, the budgets given to NHS Boards will be almost static while the demand for services increases and many of the costs of providing services continue to rise. To do the best for our patients we therefore have to develop new ways of providing treatment and care and recycling the resources that we have. This includes looking carefully at how and where patients receive different types of care.