National Care Service Forum 2023: report - easy read

Part 1: Introduction and programme

Introduction

The National Care Service (NCS)

The Scottish Government is working to improve community health and social care support.

We are working with people across Scotland.

We want everyone to have access to high-quality health care and social care support.

This is why we are designing a National Care Service (NCS).

National Care Service Annual Forum 2023

We had our second annual National Forum on Monday 30 October 2023 at Glasgow Science Centre.

People discussed the future of community health and social care support.

The Scottish Government also told people about the progress of the NCS. It also gathered views about what should happen next.

We also shared findings from the smaller local forums in summer 2023.

You can read the reports from these forums at www.gov.scot/ncs

Lessons learned from the 2022 National Forum

We used feedback from last year’s forum to make this year’s forum better. We:

• made sure people joining online could be a more active part of the event

• gave more time for the panel discussions

• booked fully accessible places to stay for people coming to the event

• put the programme in different formats online before the event. We also shared it with organisations who needed to see it

• had email and phone options for getting in touch

• again paid costs for people’s travel and places to stay if needed

• again had British Sign Language (BSL) and live captions

How the forum worked

We chose Glasgow Science Centre as the forum’s venue because:

• it is accessible and close to public transport, hotels and parking

• it had everything we needed for a large event, including online options

There were 3 ways to join the forum:

• at the venue, where people could listen to the speakers and take part in discussion groups

• online using Zoom, where they could listen to the speakers and take part in discussion groups

• online using YouTube, where they could listen to the speakers only

Before the forum, we sent people details about what we would discuss.

We also sent information about the NCS.

More than 250 people joined the event online and at the venue, including:

• people who access social care support

• carers and unpaid carers

• the social care workforce

• other people and groups interested in the NCS, like councils

The event was Chaired by:

• Lorraine McGrath, Chief Executive of the Simon Community Scotland and board member of the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS)

• Shea Moran, Senior Representative for Aff the Streets

Programme for the day

Morning

In the morning the Chairs gave speeches.

Then Donna Bell gave a speech. She is Scottish Government Director for Social Care and NCS Development.

Next a panel of speakers answered questions. The speakers were:

• Maree Todd MSP, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport
• Shubhanna Hussain-Ahmed, Partnership Development Officer, Coalition of Carers in Scotland
• Peter Hunter, Regional Manager, Unison
• Eddie Fraser, Chief Executive, East Ayrshire Council
• Louise Bussell, Nurse Director, NHS Highland
• Keith Lynch, Director, People First (Scotland)
• Karen Hedge, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Scottish Care

Afternoon

In the afternoon Lucy Challoner gave a speech. She is a new social worker and young carer.

Next there were small group discussions for people at the venue or on Zoom.

Last of all there was a speech from Elena Whitham MSP, Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy.