Annual Report 2025/26 - Delivery Plan Implementation and Next Steps
Person-Centred Shetland
Person-Centred Shetland is being delivered by the local Fairer Futures Partnership and aims to embed lasting change in leadership, culture and practice, so that services work more collaboratively, intervene earlier and provide more joined-up support.
Related case studies: Mid Yell Family Learning, Teatime Tuesdays, Improving Health and Social Care Together, and Working Together to Improve Stroke Care in Shetland.
The work builds on learning from earlier activity, including the Anchor Project, and aligns with national priorities on Whole Family Support and place-based reform, while reflecting Shetland’s distinct context. The Board brings together senior leaders from health, the local authority, the third sector and Police Scotland to provide strategic oversight, alignment and challenge.
Progress during 2025/26 included:
- Establishing the Fairer Futures Partnership and a regular meeting cycle, creating a dedicated space for strategic oversight, alignment and challenge across partner organisations.
- Developing a shared understanding across partners of current system pressures and priorities, and of the role of Fairer Futures in supporting the delivery of Person-Centred Shetland as part of a wider, integrated approach rather than as a standalone programme.
- Strategic leadership development support focused on strengthening a shared purpose, joint accountability and the removal of systemic barriers to person-centred, preventative working across all people-facing services.
- Developing and agreeing a Practitioner Learning Network proposal, with connected workstreams to support practitioner learning, distributed leadership and wider system learning. An initial joint practitioner session, delivered with the Local Employability Partnership, demonstrated strong interest in cross-sector learning and highlighted common challenges around the coordination and consistency of support.
- Securing Child Poverty Accelerator Funding to refresh GIRFEC practice across Shetland during 2026/27, building on the early Fairer Futures work.