CARE bosses in the Borders believe the services they offer the elderly are now in good health.

And they aim to continue recovering from last year's damning report by the national watchdog body.

Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Partnership was heavily criticised towards the end of 2017 by the Care Inspectorate.

Last year's in-depth inspection found that the service provided jointly by NHS Borders and Scottish Borders Council was weak when it came to delivery, planning and leadership.

And the watchdog's report highlighted the lengthy waits many Borderers faced - particularly the elderly - for assessments and services.

Almost a year on from the Care Inspectorate report, Partnership chiefs believe they have made significant improvements.

In their annual report, which was published last week, several achievements were featured.

One of the key successes over the past 12 months has been the development of a group of projects called Discharge to Assess aimed at reducing delayed discharges from Borders General Hospital and ensuring support is in place to help patients return home.

The takeover of the Craw Wood 15-bed facility in Tweedbank saved over 1,000 days of bed usage at Borders General Hospital.

A further pilot scheme of discharging patients from hospital to home and assessing their needs within the community is being rolled out from Berwickshire following successful results.

Chief officer Robert McCulloch-Graham told us: “While significant progress has been made we still have ambitious aspirations and further challenges to resolve so the work of the partnership remains critical to the future delivery of high quality health and social care services, especially due to the estimated increase in the region’s elderly population over the next two decades.

"Last year was also challenging in terms of the weather with the Beast from the East and generally cooler conditions putting real pressure on services.”

A further set of priorities will be brought into focus with the launch of a new revised Strategic Plan later this year.

And it is hoped the Partnership will continue to make improvements.

Stephen Mather, Chair of the Integration Joint Board, believes we can all play our part. He added: "Play your part and live a healthy lifestyle, or at the very least try to be healthier than you are currently.

"Whether that is eating better, exercising more or simply keeping your brain active you can all do simple things to potentially reduce your current or future reliance on health and social care services.

"This in turn will enable all partners to continue to deliver vital services to those that absolutely need it, often through no fault of their own."