Health and Social Care in Aberdeenshire

Developing our next strategic plan 2025 onwards

Thoughout September and October 2024, our teams were out and about across Aberdeenshire to speak to people about how we continue to deliver community health & social care services in the face of increasing need and smaller budgets.

Every Health & Social Care Partnership must create a Plan which sets out how it will provide services, within budget, and meeting the needs of the population that it serves.

To prepare for our next Plan, we completed a Needs Assessment which helps us to understand the health and social care needs of people living in Aberdeenshire.

So, here's what we know:

• 23% increase in the number of people aged 65+ living in Aberdeenshire compared to 19.3% nationally.

• 42.6% increase in the number of households with someone aged 75 years and older.

• The number of households within Aberdeenshire is expected to increase at a faster rate than across Scotland.

• Healthy life expectancy (the number of years we live without serious illness or disability) in Aberdeenshire remains above the national average. However, the trend is going down meaning we are becoming sicker earlier.

• As we age, we tend to have more complex health needs. Many people will have 2 or more medical conditions requiring more support and care.

• Poor Mental Health is the 5th leading cause for ill health and the 3rd highest long-term health condition. In fact, 17.5% of the Aberdeenshire population is prescribed medication for mental ill health.

• If you live in an area of high deprivation your healthy life expectancy will be 10-15 years shorter than that of your neighbour in a wealthier area.

In summary, our needs assessment shows that our next Plan must take account of an ageing population and the increasing demand that this places on health and social care services. We must also take into account the fact that living in an area of high deprivation also impacts on the need for the services which we deliver.

Like other public sector organisations across Scotland, we are faced with significant financial challenges which means that how we deliver our services will need to change.

We understand that the decisions we make may have impacts for individuals and families, including those with a caring role. The Partnership recognises and values the support provided by unpaid carers and will ensure that all impacts are considered as part of our decision-making process.

Your Views - opportunities through face to face sessions and survey

• Our face-to-face sessions were held throughout Aberdeenshire in September and October 2024 (see dates in the right hand menu).
• The survey was open from 16th September to 8th November 2024. This was also available as a paper copy or in Easy Read format.
• A facilitation / information pack was also available if groups wanted to have a discussion and feedback on as many or as few questions as they liked.

Summary of views provided and next steps

A summary of the engagement feedback can now be viewed. This is currently being used to inform the development of a draft Health and Social Care Strategic Plan for 2025 onwards. The draft Strategic Plan will be available on this page to view and provide feedback on in early 2025.