Clackmannanshire and Stirling Health and Social Care Partnership has been awarded a grant from Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s ihub Improvement Fund.

The fund supports services to test and develop innovative practices that can contribute to the delivery of the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes. Now in its second year, it allows Healthcare Improvement Scotland to work in partnership to develop new ideas, test and evaluate these locally and then share the learning nationally to help improve health and social care for people across Scotland.

Clackmannanshire and Stirling Health and Social Care Partnership has been awarded £74,520 as part of a project to design an evidence based model which will aim to support around 1500 people living with arthritis in the local community.  The model will be designed to encourage people living with the condition to access community-based support such as weight loss, exercise and stress management and can help to reduce demand for services such as GP appointments and physiotherapy.

Shiona Strachan, Chief Officer, Clackmannanshire and Stirling Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “We are delighted that we have been awarded this grant which we plan use to help local people with arthritis access the services and support they require to improve their overall health and quality of life.”

Ruth Glassborow, Director of Improvement Support and ihub, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said:  “We were excited to receive so many excellent applications for the ihub’s 2017-2018 Improvement Fund.  The number and quality of applications demonstrates the continued commitment from teams across Scotland to making measurable improvements to health and social cares services.  Congratulations to all of the recipients, we look forward to working with them over the coming year to capture the learning from their experiences and share it across Scotland.”