Population health and wellbeing strategy
Living well, working well and flourishing in Fife.
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Developing our strategy
From 2021 and throughout 2022, colleagues from across NHS Fife, our patients, service users, partners, as well as the communities we serve have all contributed to the development of NHS Fife’s new Population Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Through this extensive engagement work, contributors via our Community and Colleague conversations, workshops and surveys have shared and outlined what matters to them and how they would like to see health care services delivered and evolve to ensure that all communities across Fife can be supported in maintaining and improving their health and wellbeing.
Community conversation
As part of the initial development phase of NHS Fife’s strategy, we looked to recruit a representative sample of the population of Fife to take part in one of our 13 facilitated focus groups to allow us to explore in more detail the themes identified in the previous year’s community conversation survey.
The new Population health and wellbeing strategy, approved by the NHS Fife Board in March 2023, sets out the strategic direction for the organisation for the next 5 years.
Our commitment
The strategy places a commitment to the delivery of high-quality health and care services across Fife and sets out how we will seek to address this whilst recognising that change will be required to deliver this.
This strategy does not set out a series of detailed actions. It is a declaration of our vision and intent to prioritise health inequalities and support improvement in the health and wellbeing of all Fife citizens.
Through annual delivery plans, the implementation of the strategy will be taken forward in the context of a range of drivers for change.
Key to this will be our continuing recovery from the global pandemic which has significantly impacted our communities and their physical and mental health and wellbeing. The pandemic has also been very challenging for our staff and the delivery of our services, and we anticipate this impact will continue for the foreseeable future.
This strategy does not set out a series of detailed actions. It is a declaration of our vision and intent.
Future vision
Looking forward, we will continue working towards providing high-quality care whilst addressing the challenges in the length of time many patients wait to receive their care.
We will also ensure that we continue to support our greatest asset - our NHS Fife staff, who continue to demonstrate their extraordinary commitment to public service, working under significant and sustained pressure for a period longer than anyone could have predicted at the outset of the pandemic.
We will also ensure that we continue to support our greatest asset - our NHS Fife staff.
Confronting challenges
The strategy also recognises that NHS Fife, like all other board across Scotland, face an uncertain and challenging financial position as we emerge from the pandemic and look to redesign our services to fit the future needs of our communities.
It is widely recognised across health and social care and by professional organisations, including Audit Scotland, that the NHS was not financially sustainable before the pandemic. However, our challenges have been exacerbated by its impact and legacy. NHS Fife, like all NHS Boards, must plan an effective response to the significant capacity and supply issues in key areas of our workforce.
This new strategy acknowledges the compounding pressures of financial and workforce challenges ahead of us as we proactively prepare to deliver financial sustainability over the medium term. This will require us to embrace all opportunities to support new ways of working and ensuring that we continue to develop new and existing staff roles in supporting us through these most challenging times.
This new strategy acknowledges the compounding pressures of financial and workforce challenges ahead of us.
The road to recovery
We know that recovery will not be achieved in the short term, but we remain ambitious for longer term recovery and whilst the document sets out our ambitions over the next 5 years, there are aspects of our new strategy, particularly our unique contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of the Fife population, which will take longer to embed. We also recognise the need to ensure our strategy is dynamic to changing community needs and political ambitions across a range of policy areas and will ensure a formal review and refresh of the document on a bi-annual basis.
We recognise the need to ensure our strategy is dynamic to changing community needs and political ambitions.
Our 4 key priorities
Priority one
Improve health and wellbeing
We work to close the inequality gap ensuring that all people of Fife can flourish from cradle to grave.
Priority two
Improve the quality of health and care services
We provide the safest and best possible health and care services, from cradle to grave, for the people of Fife.
Priority three
Improve staff experience and wellbeing
We value and look after our staff.
Priority four
Deliver value and sustainability
We use our resources wisely to ensure our services are sustainable and meet our population’s needs.
Delivering our vision
Supporting the implementation of our strategy with clear operational plans, combined with oversight of our progress and ongoing monitoring of impact and benefits, will be key to achieving our shared vision and goals.
Regular feedback and evaluation will allow us to evolve our operational objectives and be responsive to new opportunities and changing demands, ensuring we continue to develop and improve our services.
