Councillors and NHS chiefs to discuss healthcare merger

Healthcare plans will be discussed at the council's HQ in Inverness on Thursday.

FAR-reaching plans to integrate health, education and social care services in the North by April next year will be discussed by councillors and health chiefs at a joint meeting in Inverness this week.

They are being asked to agree to the proposals using a lead agency model that would see NHS Highland provide services for adult community care and the Highland Council provide services for children.

The first of two joint meetings is being held at the council HQ in Glenurquhart Road on Thursday to agree the case for change – first proposed in December – is proven and to confirm the lead agency model is the preferred way of delivering integrated services.

A final report will be presented to a second joint meeting of the two organisations on Thursday, June 23. It will set out the scope of services to be transferred to each lead agency and the governance arrangements to ensure each is able to discharge its new responsibilities while retaining accountability.

As part of the development of proposals for planning for integration, there is ongoing engagement with stakeholders, including service users and staff, and their feedback is a key element of the preparation of the final report.

The report being presented on Thursday states, while there is further work to be done, there are no identified obstacles to developing the lead agency model in terms of legal, financial or human resources issues.