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    • Hello! From the Health and Social Care Alliance

    By Kerry Ritchie and Lara Murray, Network Development Officers

    The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (known as the ALLIANCE) has recently become a member of Dyslexia Scotland and we are also pleased to welcome Dyslexia Scotland to the ALLIANCE family.
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    Kerry and Lara, Network Development Officers at the ALLIANCE

    With over 1,900 members across health and social care, the third sector and including people living with long term conditions and unpaid carers, the ALLIANCE has a huge reach and a remit to improve services for people living in Scotland. We are both Network Officers at the ALLIANCE, working to grow and strengthen relationships. We want to introduce you to the ALLIANCE and to the different parts of our networking activities.

    Membership of the ALLIANCE

    At the ALLIANCE, our vision is for Scotland to be a place where everyone has support and services that put them at the centre. People of all ages living with disabilities, long term conditions or providing unpaid care for a loved one need to have a strong voice to ensure that they enjoy their right to live well and free from discrimination. We view everyone as an equal and active citizen who should be able to shape the health and social care services they use. Our three core aims are to: Working towards our vision, the ALLIANCE is involved in many different projects and you can read about them all on our website. However, our real strength is our membership: the people and organisations that provide their voice and expertise on what is currently happening in health and social care and what needs to change. 1,900 voices are so much louder together.
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    A recent ALLIANCE members’ networking event

    In return for lending their strength to achieving our vision, we offer members a range of benefits, including up to date news, briefings and alerts as well as knowledge sharing and opportunities for networking across sectors. Dyslexia Scotland is now a member of the ALLIANCE as an organisation. It is also possible to join for free as an individual supporter. Learn more on the ALLIANCE membership website. Contact Kerry Ritchie to find out about joining.

    Self Management

    One of the priority areas for the ALLIANCE is our self management work. When we talk about self management of a long term condition, we do not mean people being left to manage alone. Supported self management is about people living with long term conditions feeling able, through the services, support and information they access, to live well with their condition. Our work aims to bring about a change in the way services are delivered to support this way of working with people. Since 2008, the ALLIANCE has been administering the Self Management Fund on behalf of the Scottish Government. To date, more than £16 million has been awarded to over 200 projects delivering innovative services that enable people to self manage their long term conditions.
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    2016 Self Management Network Scotland event held with Crohn’s and Colitis UK showing attendees holding a paper chain made of ‘powerful partnership’ links to promote the theme of partnership working

    Funding these projects is the cornerstone of our other self management work including the Self Management Network Scotland. Around 500 people with an interest in changing health and social care services to work in this way can connect and support one another through this network. Joining is free and we host regular networking events as well as issue updates on the world of self management in Scotland. Find out more and join on the Self Management Network Scotland website. Contact Lara Murray to find out more.