The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) has called for housing to be fully involved in the future integration of health and social care services in Scotland.

Assimilating the two services is a key Scottish Government policy, focussed on meeting the challenges of Scotland’s ageing population by shifting resources to community-based and preventative care at home, or in a homely setting.

Yesterday a report from Audit Scotland warned that significant risks must be addressed if major reform is to fundamentally change how services are delivered, and improve outcomes for the people who use them.

Responding to the report, Mary Taylor, SFHA chief executive, said the in depth review of the integration of health and social care so far is welcome but stressed that housing must be acknowledged as an integral part of the process.

Mary Taylor added: “Audit Scotland has identified areas of work for all health and social care partnerships to improve upon.

“However, SFHA urges health and social care partnerships across Scotland to fully involve social landlords in discussions and would encourage Audit Scotland to include housing as a theme for investigation in future reviews.”