Community Engagement Team

The Integration of Health & Social Care is needed for many reasons; one is because it takes much more than Health & social care services to keep people well. Community activities, neighbours, friends and family all have a role.

This could sometimes mean:

• For example an interest in crafts, which means you get together with a few friends to chat with busy hands and work away a few troubles.
• you know your community is rural and there is a need to work to make sure people can reach medical appointments in population centres.
• people run self-help and information groups for particular conditions, an example would be Parkinson’s Groups.

The community engagement team might be able to help you gather interest for your group, help with promotion or help you think about becoming a more formal group so you can apply for funding. We can also help you work with services to try and make sure those with intense caring responsibilities or health issues can still be part of your community.

An easy way to get involved and hear about what is going on would be to come along to a Health and Wellbeing Group near you. This is a space where needs and gaps in what is available are raised and discussed. Solutions are considered and acted on where possible. Where there is a need to influence change in how needs are being met by more formal bodies, there is the means for the Health & Wellbeing group to link directly to the managers involved.

Health & Wellbeing Groups are in the following areas:

North Perthshire Locality- Strathmore, Highland & Carse of Gowrie

Perth City Locality- Perth (includes Scone area)

South Perthshire & Kinross Locality- Kinross-shire, Strathearn & Strathallan