“Our NHS is important to all of us.It is a constant that supports us during the best of times, during toughest times and keeps us ticking-over in between.”
Adam Coldwells
Chief Executive, NHS Grampian
Our NHS
We are proud of our NHS, but we must be honest: it’s facing serious challenges. Here in Grampian, we have more people aged over 65 than any other health board in Scotland (per head of population) and fewer hospital beds. This places intense pressure on our services and makes a timely journey through our health system far more challenging for patients. Many health and social care services are struggling but we believe they can adapt to better serve you, both now and in the future.
Our Goals
We want to create a health and care system that meets today’s needs, prevents illness and is sustainable for the future. Our aim is for the NHS to help you stay healthier for longer by accessing the right care in the right place at the right time. An example of how we might achieve this is through Community Appointment Days. These are being trialled across NHS Grampian, with each event efficiently offering a range of doctors, nurses and specialities to support patients with particular needs or conditions on the same day and in the same place. These can range from pain management to orthopaedics. This gives people the support, knowledge and clinical support to stay well and take an active role in their own care.
We want to :
- Prevent illness and help you stay healthier for longer
- Involve you in decisions about your care
and support you in managing your own health - Make it easier to access care and manage appointments
- Increase community care and deliver more healthcare services closer to home. This will also make routine care more accessible
- Ensure safety and quality, and maintain high standards of care everywhere
- Use technology better
- Involve everyone in the conversation about healthcare needs, prioritise what matters and focus on what’s important to you
Why does this matter?
Despite our efforts, we know we’re not meeting everyone’s expectations. If we don’t act, population health with worsen, demand will continue to grow and NHS resources will come under further pressure. We urgently need to address these challenges through the right actions.
What we believe matters
- Everyone deserves prompt, high-quality care for planned treatments.
- Highly specialised health services should be located at larger centres to ensure first class care as needed. This may involve travel, but it will help ensure that you will be seen more promptly by a specialist in that field and return home to recover sooner.
- People should be able to easily access health services close to home and, when that is not possible - for example when travel to specialised centres is required - that the healthcare journey should be smooth and efficient.
- Emergency care should be for emergencies only. We need your help to make sure people understand how best to make use of the NHS Inform website, NHS 24 (by calling 111), and services offered by pharmacies and opticians. GP surgeries and drop-in clinics may also be more appropriate than accessing emergency care.
