Reform of care for Scotland's older people has been slow and needs to accelerate, an Audit Scotland report published today has said.
The report said progress on improving care for older people and joining up services had been sluggish despite being a policy focus for several years.
It called for improvements in the monitoring of the policy’s implementation and impact.
Auditor General for Scotland, Caroline Gardner, said: ‘Our report makes recommendations aimed at helping accelerate change, particularly given the growing pressure on services and the integration of health and social care.
‘In particular, we want to see better information for making decisions and assessing impact, and the Government and its partners to be clearer about how to move resources from institutions, like hospitals, to community-based services.’
Chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, Douglas Sinclair, added: ‘The aim of providing more services in the community has been a clearly-stated goal for at least a decade, but progress in doing it is slow and inconsistent.’