National Care Service: charter of rights and responsibilities - easy reads part 1 and 2

Part 2 : What we learned

What we learned

We heard lots of different views and ideas during this co-design work. Here are the most common things that people wanted to talk about.

1. We heard that the Charter should be easy to access and easy to use. People want to know what the Charter means for them.

2. People told us the Charter should be clear about:

• who it is for
• how it can be used.

3. People told us that the Charter must be for everyone and help make sure people who get support are treated with dignity.

4. People told us that support networks are important. They help make sure that people get the rights and care they need.

Your support network means people who you can trust. For example, this could be family, friends, neighbours or unpaid carers.

5. We heard that a lot of people want more control in decisions on their care support.

Some people told us they are not able to make choices on their care support.

6. Lots of people told us they do not know how to make a complaint if things go wrong.

They are sometimes scared to make a complaint because they are worried that something bad might happen next.

How we have used what we heard

We have used what we have heard to make sure we have the right information included in the draft Charter.

The new draft includes many of the ideas people told us in co-design.

The draft Charter is in plain English. We expect the final version to be available in many different languages and formats including easy read.

We will make sure the Charter can be found in places like doctor’s surgeries and hospitals, and online.

What is next

What is next for the Charter

We have now finished the first 2 co-design stages and have made a draft of the Charter.

Work to improve the draft Charter will now move into the last stage of co-design. This is called the agreeing stage.

This will go on until the close to the start of the National Care Service.

This means there will be more chances for people with lived experience to make the Charter better.

Lived experience in this report means people who get or give social care, social work or community health support.

You can read the draft Charter we created from the sense-making stage here: Draft NCS Charter of Rights and Responsibilities.

How to find out more

Read the full version of the report.

We have changed the way we make our longer documents and reports into easy read versions.

Before, we would have the same detail and information in both our plain English and easy read versions.

But that made easy read documents very long.

To make them shorter and easier to read, we will now make our easy read documents a summary of the main report.

Read more about why we have made this change.

What is next for the National Care Service

Members of Scottish Parliament have been discussing a National Care Service and how it could work by looking at the National Care Service Bill.

A Bill is a proposed law that needs to be passed by the Parliament before it can become a law. The first stage of this (Stage 1 of the Bill) includes:

• hearing the views of people, including people with lived experience of using and providing care support services

• writing reports on what they have heard

• voting on whether the National Care Service Bill should be taken to the next stage

The National Care Service Bill passed Stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament in February 2024.

The National Care Service Bill will now enter Stage 2. This is where Members of Scottish Parliament can make changes to the Bill.

For more information about the National Care Service Bill, visit National Care Service (Scotland) Bill

Getting involved

We want to speak to as many people as we can to help us build the National Care Service.

If you would like to tell us your views you can join our Lived Experience Experts Panel.

For more information about the Lived Experience Experts Panel, visit Get involved in designing the National Care Service (NCS)

If you join the Lived Experience Experts Panel you will be invited to take part in different things like:

• surveys

• interviews

• sharing ideas

• helping us understand what our research is telling us

• helping us make sure the National Care Service works for everyone

• For more information about the National Care Service, visit the Scottish Government website: National Care Service - Social care