Safe and effective staffing in health and social care: analysis of responses

Section 4 – Development of validated tools and methodologies for the social care sector

The discussion document set out the intention for the legislation to be appropriate, proportionate and enabling for the social care sector and to be supportive of the recommendations in Part 2 of the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan (published December 2017). It does not seek to prescribe an approach to workforce planning, but rather to enable the development of suitable approaches for different settings in the future.

The proposal is that the legislation will build on existing legislative functions by providing:

• A function for the Care Inspectorate to work with the social care sector to develop and validate workload and workforce planning tools for use in specified settings, as agreed with and produced with the sector.
• A regulation-making power for Scottish Ministers so that they can subsequently confirm the use of any validated tools or methodologies developed by the Care Inspectorate for specified settings within the sector, following appropriate consultation with the sector.
• The ability for Scottish Ministers or the Care Inspectorate to issue guidance to care service providers setting out further detail around the duties contained within the Bill, as well as setting out requirements around reporting and compliance.

Question 4a: Do you agree with the proposed role for the Care Inspectorate in leading work, with the social care sector, to develop workforce planning tools for application in specified settings, where there is an identified need?

If you answered Disagree/Strongly disagree, who else do you think should lead this work?

Although there were 24 responses to the above question, the majority of responses did not indicate who they thought should lead on this work if not the Care Inspectorate.

Of the responses that did provide an alternative, 5 believed this should be led by the sector (21%). Other responses included a national working group, NHS and partner organisations, and collaboration with appropriate professional bodies.

Two responses highlighted a perceived potential conflict of interest with the Care Inspectorate leading on the development of workforce planning tools and then inspecting/regulating the users of those same tools.

Question 4b: Do you think that social work should be included within the scope of this legislation (while there is currently no proposal to include social work, this could be considered for inclusion at a later stage).

Question 4c: Please provide any other comments on the inclusion of social work within the scope of the legislation.

A total of 37 responses were received to this question, the most common themes identified were:

Other themes that emerged from responses included the importance of recognising multi-disciplinary teams, definition of where accountability and governance will lie, and recognition of funding and resources challenges.