Like other Integration Joint Boards (IJB’s) across Scotland, Edinburgh is facing a challenging financial environment. Factors such as an ageing population, an increase in the number of people living with long term conditions and resource availability mean we are not able to continue to match the current level of demand.

We recognise the need to redesign services and reshape the services we commission. Our main focus is to protect our core services that the people of Edinburgh rely upon, and concentrate on statutory services and the people that need our help the most.

Following additional one-off investment from partners (totalling £21 million), a break-even position was reported against the budget for the year. We also delivered a complex £21 million savings programme, comprising 22 projects. As we moved into 2024/25 and face further demand led pressures, our budget deficit increased to £60 million and a package of reform has been agreed to address this in a manageable way.

We have also worked closely with community organisations to be innovative in how we invest remaining funding. Early intervention and prevention approaches are at the heart of the services we deliver, and our strong partnership working is crucial to this.

After joint inspections of both our adult support and protection work and adult social work and social care by the Care Inspectorate in early 2023, a major focus for 2023/24 has been implementing actions from the first year of our improvement plan. Our priorities in year one have included early intervention and prevention, improved access to services, and staff recruitment and retention.

In this 2023/24 annual performance report, we outline the progress we have made in continuing to develop and improve our services and our performance against the national health and wellbeing indicators set out by the Scottish Government. Overall, our performance in 2023/24 is positive, with 18 out of 24 of the measures performing better or similar to the Scottish average. 11 out of 18 indicators with trend data have seen an improved or steady ranking on benchmarked performance compared to last year and we remain in the top half of partnerships for 14 of the 24 indicators with an update in this report, with improvements also seen in other areas. While we have been on a trajectory of improvement over this last year, we recognise that this may be difficult to maintain given the financial challenges we face.

Despite challenges in recruitment across Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership, our strength is our hard working and passionate colleagues who care deeply for the people we support throughout Edinburgh. Their dedication to the community, and in providing the best care possible, allows us to continue supporting the Edinburgh community in the best way we can. In June 2023 Katharina Kasper took over as Chair of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) and towards the end of 2023 Pat Togher joined as our new Chief Officer of the EIJB to lead the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership (EHSCP).

Katharina Kasper, Chair, EIJB

Pat Togher, Chief Officer, EHSCP