11th Annual Care of Older People in Scotland Conference: can we have quality, quantity and stability?

Tuesday 03rd December 2024

Scotland's population is ageing, with 25% of all Scots now sixty or older, and that trend is only set to continue. However, care services for our older people face acute resource constraints at the same time as demand is rising sharply. Is it still possible to have quality, quantity and stability in our care services?

This conference – the 11th annual care of older people in Scotland conference – addresses the issues facing us now in care delivery for older people. Funding, staffing, regulation, care services and quality, policy and structures. These all need to work well and work together for older people care in Scotland to be available in the right places, in the right forms and at the right time. Yet the sector is constantly facing instability driven principally by funding uncertainty, staffing challenges and chronically weak long term planning.

We want everyone to have the best health and care possible in older age. However, we are getting older and living longer in larger numbers. This means the costs of care are rising remorselessly while at the same time our public finances are forcing tough decisions on funding cuts.

In January this year, IPPR Scotland and the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh) questioned how Scotland looks after its older people. They highlighted that delayed discharge from acute care remains a serious factor in both reducing quality of life for older people and chewing up health spending. In March, Age Scotland revealed that over 10,000 people were stuck on care waiting lists. Most of these were older people either waiting to be assessed for social care at home or waiting for a care package to be delivered. In May this year, the Alzheimer Scotland Commission on the Future of Long Term Care, led by former First Minister Henry McLeish, called for ministers to urgently transform Scotland’s “fragmented, crisis-prone” social care system to protect the human rights of older people. The crisis – and its breadth and depth – is not going away.

In this context, how should we fund care excellence? How can we best structure services and scrutiny? Which are the core elements of best practice that we should be trying to achieve in contemporary care of older people? Our agenda examines the care of older people in the context of the pre-existing sector crisis combined with further impending funding constraints. It asks how we empower older people and value the care workers supporting them. It considers whether we are looking after our older people properly. It is intended for all people and organisations involved in the care of older people in Scotland.

While health and social care spending on over 65s with at least one long-term condition is rising, is the efficiency of service provision for older people working well? Care delivery for older people takes place in a wide variety of settings. In hospitals and institutions delivering episodic care, older people tend to be admitted to acute settings, often for longer periods than medically required. Statistics show that older people living alone – often in accommodation unsuited to their care needs – is helping to drive the smaller households' trend. The challenge then is to deliver the right care, in the right setting with care givers who are well trained and well versed in best practice. We need to both meet future health and care demands and balance immediate needs with the challenge of a long-term preventative approach to older people’s health.

The conference explores where we stand in trying to secure the best care for older people. It discusses how we can deliver consistent and high quality care for our ageing population. Can we ensure best practice drives decision making? How do we prepare care services and workers to meet immediate needs while pursuing a long-term preventative approach to older people’s health?

The conference examines these challenges in three sessions:

• The strategic context for care of older people in Scotland
• What is the condition of regulation, provision and services?
• Where do we stand on staffing, care quality and older people care strategy?

Topics to be discussed

• The strategic context for care of older people in Scotland
• The National Care Service – where are we now?
• Are we looking after our older people properly?
• What is the condition of regulation, provision and services?
• What is the state of our regulation?
• What is the state of the care sector?
• What is the state of service provision?
• Where do we stand on staffing, care quality and older people care strategy?
• What is the state of our workforce?
• What is the state of care quality?
• Where does older people care strategy stand?

Who should attend

This conference will be relevant for anyone involved in the care and support of older people in Scotland in home, medical, residential, care and other settings. This includes:

• healthcare professionals, social work and other care staff
• providers of residential and home support care services
• lawyers, advisory and other organisations engaged with the personal, rights or financial interests of older people
• rights advisors
• service managers in public, private and third sector care delivery organisations
• regulatory bodies
• anyone with responsibility for understanding and shaping policy and practice in bodies which deliver care of older people

Speakers

Jackie Irvine

Chief Executive

Care Inspectorate