If health charities don’t survive the COVID-19 pandemic there will be significant gaps in services in future, VHS’s Chief Executive has warned, in an interview published by www.healthandcare.scot  the online health and care news channel.

Claire Stevens  says the NHS and our other public services are quite rightly viewed as the bricks in a strong wall providing protection and care during COVID-19. But she points out that charities, other voluntary organisations, social enterprises, faith and community groups are the mortar between the bricks, largely unnoticed but doing a hugely important job in holding people together and helping ensure the bricks can hold up the wall.  She praises the Scottish Government for the financial support provided to the third sector to date and highlights just how quickly our sector has taken action to reconfigure services and address new needs and how it is now starting to adapt to the new normal. However, she warns that unless there is even greater recognition of the extent to which our sector actively contributes to health improvement, enable self-management of long term conditions, support people through crises and aid recovery, then there are going to be significant gaps in services in future if some organisations fail to survive the coming months.