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ADDING LIFE TO YEARS
ANNUAL REPORT 2002-03
CHAPTER 3: INVOLVING OLDER PEOPLE
The White Paper,
Our National Health, published in 2000 stated "People tell us that, in their experience, the NHS continues to provide high quality treatment and care. But there is a clear view that the NHS still does things
to people rather than
with them. People want to be more involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They want more information and to feel valued throughout their whole journey of care." As a direct result of this White Paper, the Scottish Executive Health Department published
Patient Focus and Public Involvement and
Fair For All in December 2001. These two papers outline a vision for the NHS in the 21st century and the beginning of a fundamental culture change in the way the NHS involves and engages those it serves.
Patient Focus and Public Involvement was written with the intention of providing a framework to the NHS in Scotland on how members of the public, patients, carers and others should be engaged in building the NHS of the future and involved in decisions regarding their own care and treatment. The essence of this was to treat people with respect and dignity. It set a number of key objectives for the NHS in Scotland, many of which have been met as we continue to make progress.
Fair For All addressed the need for consideration to be given to people who are subject to discrimination based on grounds of their race or ethnicity. Furthermore it established the Leadership Challenge which called upon the leaders of Scotland's public, private and voluntary sector organisations to end racial discrimination. In line with the wider equality agenda similar consideration needs to be given to other groups who may be discriminated against, on the grounds of age, gender, religious faith/beliefs, disability or sexuality.
Patient Focus and Public Involvement states: "It is no longer good enough to simply do things
to people; a modern healthcare service must do things
with the people it serves." In this particular case older people need to be involved in the design, delivery and planning of services to ensure that the services they receive meet their needs and address the issues for them. This will extend beyond the mere provision of the service but also how the service is delivered and how they are communicated with, to name but a few examples.
Fair For All, and the wider equality agenda, plays a critical role in this to ensure that the views, opinions and needs of those from specific groups are heard and considered equally. The value of involving and engaging older people in the redesign of existing, or design of new services, is that it will be inherently patient-focused and targeted to meet the needs of the older community. NHS staff also have an important role to play. In partnership with patients/carers and members of the public, they should be able to focus the NHS to meet the needs of the people it serves. Only through working together can we make a difference to our NHS in Scotland.
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