A SENIOR West Fife councillor says Fife Health and Social Care partnership needs to be more accountable to the public after the recent decision to close the Rosyth Resource Centre.
The decision is now being looked at by Fife Council’s scrutiny committee and Alice McGarry, who is convener of the South West Fife area committee, said changes need to be made by the Partnership in the future.
“I can forgive them. It is a new organisation with two very disparate groups coming together but public consultation matters more than anything and you need to take people with you.
“You can’t convince them of your argument if you don’t put the argument to them.”
The Fife Health and Social Care Partnership was created by Fife Council and NHS Fife as part of the Scottish Government’s ambitious programme of reform to ensure that health and social care provision across Scotland is joined up and seamless, especially for people with long-term conditions and disabilities.
Cllr McGarry said she had already expressed her views to partnership director Michael Kellet.
“They are a young organisation and they maybe aren’t part of Fife Council or the health board that used to consider these things but they have to change their ways,” she added.
“The Scottish Government demands it and it is going to have to change. Decisions should be made as close to people as possible.”
David Heaney, divisional general manager (East) for Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, said the decision to redesign Fife’s day services for older people was made by the board in June 2016.
“This was founded on the results of consultation across Fife with 3,700 stakeholders,” he said.
“Over 1,000 individuals and organisations responded, and our redesign proposals reflect the range of comments set out in the consultation response.
“At its meeting in July 2017, the board approved a proposal to redesign services including those at Rosyth Resource Centre. Prior to the board decision, staff, service users and relatives were informed of the proposal. Comments from these discussions were fed back to the board before it made its decision.”
Article originally appeared on Dunfermline Press
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