Warning over care services as Falkirk district's elderly population to soar

SNP councillor Fiona Collie told members of Falkirk Council’s executive this week that the number of people in the Falkirk area aged over 75 is expected to increase by 80 per cent by 2043, less than 20 years away.

“This is coming down the road for us,” she said.

Transforming services, she said, is the only way that Falkirk Health & Social Partnership can begin to tackle the increasing demand on its services for an increasingly elderly population.

Councillor Collie said: “This is the challenge we face and we must respond to this demographic change – transforming and changing and responding not only to this change, but shifting expectations and other challenges such as an ageing workforce.”

Ms Collie was presenting councillors with a draft of the business plan for the Integration Joint Board (IJB), the body that oversees the the council’s social care and the NHS’s health care staff locally.

While people are living longer, there is concern that more deprived communities are now facing shorter lives and spending more of their lives in poor health.

But Ms Collie was keen to emphasise the “excellent” work that is already going on across the Health and Social Care Partnership to face demand which is already, including the relaunch of Dollar Park Dementia Service.

“It truly is an excellent service and, with the work to invest in Dundas Resource Centre, closing Oswald Avenue, also means that the Dementia Service is now able to offer services at the weekend and evenings.

“Transformation, improvement and, meeting demand.”

She also highlighted other ongoing projects that are trying to make a difference in the face of demand that is already extremely high.

“In Primary Care for example, GPs are supporting 5000 appointments a day but new technology and initiatives such as digital dermatology and consultant connect are helping to support patients every day and preventing unnecessary referral to secondary care,” she said.

Other projects include “extended access to NHS dentistry, more options available at community pharmacies, advanced physiotherapy, reduced waiting lists for orthotics, more access to podiatry and dieticians – all focusing on treatment and prevention”.

She also highlighted the 60 per increase in demand for equipment and an ongoing project that has delivered savings by ensuring 3500 items were able to be reused.

The business case being developed, she said, “aims to provide a three-year plan to financial sustainability”.

But she added: “That sustainability will not be delivered by standing still. If we do not transform, simply put we cannot deliver for the increasing demand that is not just 20 years away but right now and building.”

The report being presented to councillors stressed: “The future demographics are unlikely to be able to be met from existing budgets without significant change to service delivery or additional funding from the SG and/or partners”.

The councillor added: “This is a national issue – we are not alone – and we can argue over national/local and local democratic control – but the fundamentals remain.

“Integration is the here and now, savings are needed to bridge the gap and transformation must be continued and accelerated.

“If we do nothing, people in our communities will not receive the care they need. That is the challenge we face.”

The leader of the Labour Group, Councillor Anne Hannah – also a member of the IJB – said she agreed that the major issue facing services is the change in demographics.

She told the meeting: “I think we do have to welcome the transformation that is being looked at – some of it not very pleasant.

“But it’s also got to be seen in the context of the fact that while there is increasing demand for the services, there has been a £1.1 billion – a nine per cent – reduction in funding, as has been shown in the Audit Commission’s report.”