The Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety is determined to ensure that services are safe, improve health and wellbeing of individuals and communities and, at the same time, make the best use of available resources. In addition, he believes it is important that services, as far as possible, meet the needs and preferences of people and are accessible to all regardless of where they live or who they are.
To make this happen, his Department has started work on the development of a set of Service Frameworks which set out explicit standards for health and social care to be used by patients, clients, carers and their wider families to help them understand the standard of care they can expect to receive. These Frameworks will also be used by health and social care organisations in planning and delivering services.
The first group of Frameworks focus on the most significant causes of ill health and disability in Northern Ireland – cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancer, mental health and learning disability. In addition to the Service Framework for Older People, work has also commenced to develop a Service Framework for Children and Young People.
The Service Framework for Older People sets standards in relation to people over 65 whilst taking account of the needs of those over 50, where appropriate, particularly in relation to preventative measures. The standards relate to Person-centred Care; Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement; Safeguarding; Carers; Conditions more Common in Older People; Medicines Management and Transitions of Care.
Each standard is supported by levels of performance to be achieved over 3 years and the Framework will be subject to regular review and refinement in the light of new evidence. This will ensure that it provides a sound basis for continued improvement in the quality of health and social services.
The development of this Framework has been an inclusive process involving people from all aspects of health and social care, patients, clients and carers, all of whose support has been invaluable. The application of the standards set out in this Framework has the potential to transform the quality of service provision for older people.
