New three-year plan sets out South Lanarkshire's ambitions for health and social care

Daily Record

25-04-2025

South Lanarkshire's Integration Joint Board (IJB) has approved its Strategic Commissioning Plan for 2025–2028, setting out clear and focused ambitions for health and social care over the next three years. Against the backdrop of significant and complex challenges for health and social care, it targets five strategic goals – summarised as Nurture, Access, Flow, Recovery and Protect – as the key priorities for service delivery and transformation. Lesley McDonald, outgoing chair of the South Lanarkshire IJB, said: 'We know the difference that effective health and social care services make to the lives of thousands of people across our communities each and every day. 'We should celebrate the progress that our staff have delivered over the last three years, which provides the robust platform for the important work to come. In the face of increasing demands, escalating costs and pressurised resources we also know that the status quo is unsustainable. 'That is why each of our strategic goals tackles a critical challenge head-on – from supporting more children to meet their developmental milestones, to shifting the balance of care from hospital to community settings and improving access to primary care.' Professor Soumen Sengupta, chief officer of South Lanarkshire IJB, added: 'One of the privileges of my role is that I get to see first-hand the impact that our capable and compassionate staff can and do make on a daily basis. I also know how deeply their professionalism and dedication is valued by local people – from supporting infants and parents right through to providing care and comfort to those requiring end-of-life care. 'Our strategic goals reinforce our commitment to protecting the most vulnerable and at-risk within our communities. In committing to these goals we are both addressing the realities of a very challenging environment, and pursuing opportunities to innovate, integrate, and drive improvement – together with our communities, staff and partners. 'My thanks then to all of our staff and to our partners for their ongoing dedication and their drive to embrace new ways of working and models of care. And my thanks to our patients, service users, informal carers and communities for their encouragement, their feedback and their support as we continue to strive to do our best by them.' The IJB's Strategic Commissioning Plan is aligned with national and local strategies including NHS Lanarkshire's Our Health Together, South Lanarkshire Council's Connect Plan and the South Lanarkshire Community Plan. It also reinforces the IJB's long-term ambition to improve life expectancy and contribute to narrowing health inequalities across the area. The Strategic Commissioning Plan focuses on five key strategic goals: ■ Nurture – to support more children to reach their developmental milestones. ■ Access – to improve the accessibility and range of primary care services. ■ Flow – to shift the balance of care from acute to community services, including reducing delayed discharges. ■ Recovery – to reduce harm from substance misuse and reduce drug related deaths. ■ Protect – to strengthen public protection arrangements help keep vulnerable children and adults safe from harm. Five key enabling drivers – catalysts for change – are also identified as critical to delivery, namely financial sustainability; workforce development; carers support; digital development; and collaborative innovation. * Don't miss the latest he adlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here . And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook ? Head on over and give us a like and share!