A recent publication by The King's Fund on reimagining community services outlines 10 principles to underpin the redesign of community services. Whilst the focus of the report is on services delivered in England, the key messages are highly relevant to joint endeavours in Scotland. The 10 design principles are:

• Organise and co-ordinate care around people’s needs
• Understand and respond to people’s physical health, mental health and social needs in the round
• Make the best use of all the community’s assets to plan and deliver care to meet local needs
• Enable professionals to work together across boundaries
• Build in access to specialist advice and support
• Focus on improving population health
• Empower people to take control of their own health and care
• Design delivery models to support and strengthen relational aspects of care
• Involve families, carers and communities in planning and delivering care
• Make community-based care the central focus of the system

To find out more please view the summary and full report on The King's Fund website