The Commission acknowledges positive aspects of performance but also highlights areas of concern and says it is essential that these are now addressed.
The findings follow the Accounts Commission’s consideration of the audit report compiled by Audit Scotland. This is the first time this council has had a Best Value and Community Planning audit.
In December 2005 the Commission made its first assessment of the council’s performance towards providing Best Value for local people. The Commission said then that it was encouraged by the rate of improvement Glasgow City had made over recent years. It said the council needed to stay focussed on improvement as it faced significant and complex social and economic challenges.
The NHS in Scotland is doing more to make sure that medicines are used safely in hospitals and to plan for new medicines. It now needs better information on how medicines are used in order to further improve patient care.
An Audit Scotland report, Managing the use of medicines in hospitals: follow-up review, looks at progress since our 2005 report on how medicines are used in Scotland’s acute hospitals. Almost all patients in hospital take medicines and this costs the health service over £220 million a year.
The Accounts Commission says that while leadership at South Ayrshire Council is showing improvement and some services perform well the council has weaknesses which pose significant risks and must be addressed.
The findings follow the Commission’s consideration of the Best Value audit report compiled by Audit Scotland. This is the first time this council has had a Best Value and Community Planning audit.
A report, Asset management in local government, looks at how councils manage their property assets. It says that only around half of the local authorities have a council-wide strategy for this and although there is some good management information available it is not always used to support decision-making.
These findings follow the Commission’s consideration of the Best Value audit report compiled by Audit Scotland. This is the first time this council has had this type of audit.
The Commission says the council has concentrated on improving its key services and, from a low base-line position in 2001, there has been considerable improvement in key areas such as education, social work and housing.
An Audit Scotland report, Overview of mental health services, says up to 850,000 people experience mental health problems at any one time in Scotland. Mental health problems can affect anyone, but some people are at higher risk, such as those living in deprived areas.
The Audit Scotland annual report sets out our progress under each of our three corporate priorities:
The bulletin primarily aims to share information with non-executive health board members and elected members of councils, but it also provides a summary of our work that we hope will be of interest to staff working in health and community care services.
On Wednesday 17 June, the Accounts Commission met and considered the Controller of Audit’s latest report on Best Value and Community Planning at the council. This report tracks progress since January 2008 and is the second follow up since serious problems were identified in the first Best Value audit report and the Accounts Commission’s public Hearing and findings.
