Council approves £400,000 for new health projects

The health and social care partnership has signed off almost £400,000  for six new projects – from mental health to patient accommodation – but rejected two.

At a meeting this morning (Thursday) morning councillors and representatives of NHS Shetland approved the selection unanimously.

The more expensive project selected will see new accommodation facilities for people with learning disabilities, complex needs and older people who can no longer be supported safely in their own homes – costing £133,000.

More than £92,000 was also approved to hire a mental health nurse, for a 12-month pilot.

The full list of eight projects was first floated at a meeting of the Integrated Joint Board (IJB) committee last month, when members where overwhelmed by the number of options, and asked for time to consider them properly.

The two rejected projects would have created a “pathway” to help people suffering with chronic pain, staffed by four specialists, and a post for an official to “address health inequalities”.

Together they would have cost almost a further £190,000, pushing the board overbudget for its non-earmarked reserve.

“All applications were absolutely in line with where the Board want to go,” said chairwoman, Natasha Cornick. ”But we can’t approve every application because we don’t have the reserve funding to enable us to do so.”