Everyone Matters 2020 workforce vision: implementation plan 2016-2017

2020 vision for health and social care in Scotland

Our vision is that by 2020 everyone is able to live longer healthier lives at home, or in a homely setting.

We will have a healthcare system where we have integrated health and social care, a focus on prevention, anticipation and supported self-management. When hospital treatment is required, and cannot be provided in a community setting, day case treatment will be the norm. Whatever the setting, care will be provided to the highest standards of quality and safety, with the person at the centre of all decisions. There will be a focus on ensuring that people get back into their home or community environment as soon as appropriate, with minimal risk of re-admission.

We are making progress towards our vision and there continue to be on-going challenges which mean that we need to make even greater strides and also to look to a longer timeframe beyond 2020, out to the next 10 to 15 years. In August 2015 the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport opened a national conversation on improving the health of the population and on the future of health and social care. That conversation is wide ranging in its reach, seeking views from the public, patients and their families, those receiving care and their carers, professional groups and other stakeholders and, not least, those who work in our health and social care services.

The national conversation is supported by a dedicated website^[1] and through a series of face-to-face events across Scotland until the early part of 2016. All contributions to the national conversation will be used to influence a programme of work to drive greater progress towards the 2020 vision and any necessary changes beyond then and over the next 10 to 15 years.

Alongside the national conversation, work is also progressing on the development of the National Clinical Strategy to support sustainable service delivery including a future where Primary Care is much more prominent and treats more people without referral to hospital, and secondary care is organised in centres of excellence and networks of hospitals providing specific clinical services.