Annual Performance Report 2020/21

Foreword

Our work over 2020/21 has been shaped by the response to the new coronavirus (covid-19) and resulting global pandemic. The services we deliver were significantly impacted by the restrictions put in place to control the spread of the virus.

Our frontline staff continued to deliver exceptional services to our most vulnerable citizens, including adjusting to service changes required due to physical distancing and increased infection control. We also developed new and adapted ways of working to allow quality support to continue to be provided while restrictions were in place. We made more use of telephone and online methods of connecting with people in need of support, from outbound wellbeing calls to online exercise classes.

It has been a difficult and challenging time. We thank our dedicated staff for their professionalism and fortitude and the many unpaid carers that provide vital care and support to the most vulnerable in our society.

In this Annual Performance Report for 2020/21, we outline our progress over the last year against our Strategic Plan 2019-22 and the ways that we responded to the pandemic across our services. As in previous years, we detail our performance against the six strategic priorities in our strategic plan and against the national health and wellbeing outcomes and associated indicators.

Despite the disruption this year, we continue to deliver on our transformation programme. This included redefining the Edinburgh offer, embracing the three conversations approach, and adopting the principle of Home First. These pieces of work have become more crucial considering the impact the pandemic had on our services and the lives of individuals across Edinburgh.

We compare favourably to the Scottish average in 11 out of 19 of the national indicators and are closing the gap in others. We have positive trends in the majority of the indicators we can compare across the life of the partnership. However, our performance against almost all the national indicators in 2020/21 has been affected by the covid-19 pandemic. While this makes it difficult to directly compare our performance against previous years, the changes seen in Edinburgh figures this year broadly reflect national trends.

The rate of emergency admissions and bed days dropped in Edinburgh in 2020, in line with the national drop in people attending hospital. Readmissions continued at a higher rate than the Scottish average and we are continuing work to better understand our performance in this area. The downward trend in the rate of days people over 75 spend in hospital when they are ready to be discharged continued. Between 2019/20 and 2020/21, this figure decreased by 51% in Edinburgh compared to a 37% decrease in the figure for Scotland. This likely builds on the success of our Home First model, which was accelerated during the pandemic.

During 2020/21 the Chair of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board was held by Angus McCann, as appointed by NHS Lothian. On 27 June 2021, Councillor Ricky Henderson was appointed by the City of Edinburgh Council as our Chair for the next two years. We thank Angus for his work as Chair and look forward to continuing to work with him as our new Vice-Chair.

Councillor Ricky Henderson, Chair                         Judith Proctor, Chief Officer

Edinburgh Integration Joint Board                         Edinburgh Integration Joint Board