Legislation to create a National Care Service for Scotland has been introduced to the Scottish parliament as the next stage towards creating a national organisation to deliver social care equivalent to the NHS for health.

The bill will create a network of ‘care boards’ whose scope is currently more limited than original proposals for Community Health and Social Care Boards, which would have included NHS primary and community services.

Ministers will, however, still be able to "wholly or partly transfer to themselves, or a care board, any function conferred on a health board or a special health board"

The bill puts the appointment of new care board members in the hands of the government and makes Scottish ministers accountable for adult social care. It also makes provision for local authorities’ current responsibilities for social services to be transferred to the government and care boards.

The number of new care boards, who will sit on them, how they fit in with a national NCS organisation and what their duties and responsibilities will be are not included in the bill. Instead, these will be decided directly by ministers or be set out in secondary legislation.

The bill, if passed by the Scottish parliament, will also put in place legislation to enact Anne’s Law on the rights of families to continue to visit and support loved ones in care homes.

Meanwhile, there will be a new responsibility on local authorities to ensure a right to breaks for unpaid carers.

Ministers have stopped short of including children's social work and care services and criminal justice social work in the NCS. The Scottish government says they have designed the bill so that these ‘could be included [in the NCS] at a later date’ following public consultation and further legislation being considered by MSPs.

One section of the bill creates a new requirement that health and care data be shared effectively between the NHS and NCS.

As set out in the government's consultation last year, there will be a new National Social Work Agency to promote training and development and monitor standards in social work. The legislation seeks to embed fair employment practices and national pay bargaining for the social care workforce.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland will be given the power to support Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland to undertake social care service inspections.

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Humza Yousaf says the legislation remains the most ambitious reform of public services since the creation of the NHS:

“People have told us they want a National Care Service, accountable to Scottish Ministers, with services designed and delivered locally. That’s exactly what we are going to deliver.

“The design of the NCS will have human rights embedded throughout, and the actual shape and detail of how the NCS works will be designed with those who have direct experience of accessing and providing social care.

“We are going to end the postcode lottery of care in Scotland. Through the National Care Service, we’re going to ensure everyone has access to consistently high-quality care and support so they can live a full life. This is our ambitious goal and while it will not be easy to achieve it is vital that we do.”

Social Care Minister Kevin Stewart added:

“One of the key benefits of a National Care Service will be to ensure our social care and social work workforce are valued, and that unpaid carers get the recognition they deserve.

“When this Bill passes, we will be able to have the new National Care Service established by the end of this parliament. In the interim we will continue to take steps to improve outcomes for people accessing care – working with key partners, including local government, and investing in the people who deliver community health and social care and support.”

 

Read more: How Feeley advisers questioned conclusions; Embedding voices of experience into NCS plans; NCS: Time for the powerful to be radical; Details of National Care Service revealed.

 

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