Critical Scottish Borders care report action plan in place

An action plan has been put in place following the critical report

An action plan has been put in place to tackle the issues raised in a critical report into health and social care for older people in the Borders.

Across nine key indicators, one was found to be "good", five "adequate" and three "weak".

The service is run by an integrated joint board operated by Scottish Borders Council and NHS Borders.

Chief officer Robert McCulloch-Graham said a group had been formed since the inspection to tackle the issues raised.

He was asked to give an update to the council's audit and scrutiny committee, local democracy reporter Joseph Anderson writes.

'Monthly contact'

"Actions have taken place throughout and we're due to do a mid-year review internally, and we expect the Care Inspectorate to be back, probably by the end of this year," he said.

"We're in monthly contact, if not more, with our link inspector, and the inspectorate as well.

"Things are going okay. It's still a little tight in terms of staffing and some of the resources that we have, but other than that, we've worked on the processes, and that's been going well.

"It was a critical report, and there's a lot of areas that need improvements, but there's an action plan in place, as I say."

'Review progress'

The board said a string of actions had been put in place to meet 13 recommendations for improvement in the report.

"The action plan is monitored by lead officers in the partnership, who meet regularly to ensure the actions are progressing and that recommendations are met," a spokesperson said.

"The action plan has been submitted to the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland, and representatives meet with the chief officer for health and social care to review its progress."