'Key weaknesses' in care for older people in Scottish Borders
An inspection of health and social care services for older people in the Scottish Borders has found "key weaknesses", and "weak" leadership.
These include lengthy waits for people to have their needs assessed, and, once this has happened, further waits for services to be provided.
Across the nine categories, inspectors found three to be 'weak', five to be 'adequate', and just one to be 'good'.
Those categories are:
Key outcomes for older people and key performance outcomes - adequate
Getting the right help at the right time - adequate
Impact on staff - adequate
Impact on the community - good
Delivery of key processes - weak
Strategic planning and plans to improve services - weak
Management and support of staff - adequate
Partnership working - adequate
Leadership and direction - weak
The inspection was carried out between October 2016 and February 2017 by the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
It assessed the performance of the Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Partnership, which includes Scottish Borders Council and NHS Borders.
The Partnership has released a statement in which it "welcomes any inspection that helps identify improvements that are needed in our services."
It goes on to say that significant progress has already been made, since the inspection was carried out.