Audrey Birt believes the future is about social capital, which is why she is championing Scotland's Health and Social Care Academy
"Last time we spoke this was just a twinkle in your eye" was the opening line to me from Derek Feeley when we welcomed him to give a masterclass for the Health and Social Care Academy to a wonderfully diverse group at the University of Edinburgh.
A former chief executive of NHS Scotland, and now vice president of the Institute of Healthcare Improvement in Boston, we were fascinated to hear his experience of healthcare systems around the world and supporting people living with multiple conditions.
It's just the territory the Health and Social Care Academy is focussing on; we want to transform, learn and connect. We want to bring people together to focus on the relational issues of care and support and learn from those with lived experience.
So many drivers are pointing towards the need for reform: an ageing and changing population, economic pressures, health inequalities and a more informed, challenging population. They all mean it’s not possible to remain the same.
Community initiatives and peer approaches to learning and support can provide answers more than traditional institutions
Audrey Birt
So what do you do to transform care? Is it about better medicines? Is it about improved technology? After all we have become used to looking for others to provide the answers. At some level we know really it won't be that simple.
Derek offered some important suggestions, including demedicalising solutions and instea fostering and enabling better health. He suggests we should focus on the wellbeing for our children now and adop a new kind of compassion, where we ask not “what’s the matter with you” and instead “what matters to you?”.
Community initiatives and peer approaches to learning and support can provide answers more than traditional institutions and we need to embrace new models of care which organise around people’s needs.
Transformation in health and care isn't out of reach if we agree with his analysis but it is different to what we do now.
The Health and Social Care Academy aims to create an environment to discuss and shape how the future will look. We know it’s less likely to be technology and more about connecting to our humanity; it's less likely to be about medicine than about social connection; it's less about hierarchy and more about shared power and partnership in care; and it's less about being done to and more about working together.
The future is not just about economic capital but also about human and social capital. These are the things we believe will enable the paradigm shift we will need to not just survive, but indeed to thrive.
We need to be brave enough to let go of “this is how we do things” and be part of the change. The Health and Social Care Academy is bringing in a much needed voice of those with lived experience to ensure we all are part of the social movement towards health and wellbeing. I’m deeply proud to be a champion for this work as in many ways it represents so much of what I have worked towards in my career. Come and join us and be part of the change too.
Audrey Birt is chair of the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland and a Health and Social Care Academy champion
