Additional funding for the Scottish Ambulance Service and Hospital at Home services are key tenants of the Scottish government and local authorities’ efforts to bolster the health and care system ahead of winter.

This year’s Winter Plan lays out a whole-system and – where clinically appropriate – ‘home first’ approach which looks to ensure people receive the right care at the right time in the right place.

Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care today told MSPs that this “extremely challenging” winter’ has built upon lessons learned from previous years, with preparations having begun back in spring:

“We are in no doubt that this winter will be extremely challenging for our health and social care system. Our Winter plan builds on the lessons we have learned from previous years and preparations have been on-going since spring.

“Our £50m funding boost for the Scottish Ambulance Service will also help tackle increased demand and support on-going recruitment to drive up capacity for emergency response. This investment will also help reduce the need for people to go to hospital which is a key part of our approach this winter.”

Michael Matheson says a £50m funding boost for the Scottish Ambulance Service, alongside efforts to recruit a further 317 staff will help reduce the need for people to attend hospital and improve triage for patients.

Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service Michael Dickson OBE said the funding will allow the service to invest in frontline staff, vehicles, ambulances and 999 call centre operations, adding:

“We know that winter will be challenging but the service, and our committed staff, are working hard to meet those challenges.

“We have a whole range of initiatives which will come into place over winter to help us meet the increased demands on our services, including work to ensure we provide the quickest possible response to our most critically ill patients and we continue to support, where appropriate, less seriously ill patients to be managed at home or in the community, avoiding unnecessary A&E visits.

“Our patients and our staff are our most important priorities, and this investment will ensure we can continue to deliver the very best to our patients whilst supporting our staff who play such a critical role in their care.”

Mr Dickson says the Scottish Ambulance Service will also continue to support less seriously ill patients to be managed at-home or in the community, where appropriate to avoid unnecessary A&E visits.

Hospital at Home

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Secretary also announced additional £12m to expand Hospital at Home which provides acute, personalised care at home for patients across Scotland.

He says this targeted funding is anticipated to deliver at least 380 more virtual beds over the winter, “significantly” increasing capacity in the system.

Mr Matheson told parliament that while the winter plan seeks to address specific issues faced across health and social care over winter, it also recognises the need for longer-term solutions.

Holyrood’s Health and Social Care Committee last month said that a focus on crisis mitigation during winter has come at the expense of longer-term planning – highlighting staff shortages, a lack of focus on social care and public communication as key concerns.

Earlier this year, doctors urged the government to ensure the care home sector is supported and sustained over the winter as it plays a key role both with long-term care and hospital discharges.

Today’s winter plan does not include additional funding for any social care service.

Mobilising volunteers

The plan also recognises the “key role” that carers and the voluntary sector play and details work to continue exploring ‘how volunteers can provide support in discharge’.

Previous work has included East Lothian’s community support for early discharge programme where volunteers supported patients returning home and a recent NHS Tayside pilot programme.

Mr Matheson told parliament that the government and COSLA are “united in our resolve” to provide safe and timely access to health and social care services over the winter period.

Mr Matheson added that, even with the “significant level of effort” taken over the past few months across the whole system, winter remains a concern:

“If we arrive at a point where measures set out in the winter plan are simply not enough to cope with the surges in demand for health and social care services, we will not hesitate to act to support the system – working closely with our partners in COSLA and beyond.”