Round table discussion on health and social care
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The differences - and similarities - in devolved approaches to health and social care were reflected in a round-table discussion in the main auditorium.
Chaired by Council member Kath McCourt, the panel offered perspectives from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales on a range of issues, while former community nurse Jo Webber, of the NHS Confederation, presented an NHS-wide standpoint.
Zoe van Zwanenberg, previously chief executive of the Scottish Leadership Foundation, explained the particular challenges facing Scotland's health and social care providers. With 5.1 million people, Scotland has a population that is densely packed in some areas and widely scattered in others - from 3,000 people per square kilometre in parts of Glasgow to less than nine in remote regions. With high levels of cancer, cirrhosis and suicide, Scotland was known as the sick man - "or woman" - of Europe, Zoe said, although the weekly health debates in the Scottish parliament were evidence of attempts to bring improvement.
Richard Wyn Jones, Director of the University of Wales Governance Centre, said Wales was characterised by "deep hostility" towards privatisation in health and social care. "That is simply not going to happen in Wales," he said.
Colm Donaghy, of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland, highlighted the importance of integration in the provision of health and social care services. In that respect, he argued, Northern Ireland was "in a better place" because health and social care are provided by five integrated trusts.
Jo Webber said the biggest issue facing health and social care provision was the recession and its impact on funding. "There's one debate that must be held, and that's about how we go on improving quality," she said.