National Care Service - complaints co-design: findings summary

What’s next

What’s next for NCS Complaints?

We will continue to work with people to co-design the development and delivery of the NCS complaints service. We want to hear the views of as many people as possible. We have been running sessions for people from groups that have been under-represented in our co-design so far. This includes people with dementia, people with experience of the justice system, children and young people.

Our co-design activity has focused on understanding people’s views and experiences of the current complaints system and processes. We are now going to focus on gathering suggestions to help us:

• understand how complaints are handled at a local and national level
• improve people’s experiences of making complaints, regardless of where they live or their circumstances
• test out ideas for change to make sure they will work

We will continue to work with organisational stakeholders on taking forward people’s practical suggestions for improvement that can be implemented now.

What’s next for the National Care Service

The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering a National Care Service to improve quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals' needs. We are also working to make improvements to the social care system now.

The National Care Service Bill passed Stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament in February 2024. This stage is where MSPs decide whether they agree with the general principles of the Bill by:

• hearing views
• writing reports of what they have heard
• voting on whether the Bill should go on to the next stage

The Bill will now go on to Stage 2. This is where MSPs can make changes (called amendments in Parliament) to the Bill.

We will continue with engagement and co-design as the Bill progresses through Parliament. This commitment will continue throughout the establishment of the NCS.

We will be doing additional work with people from groups we know are currently under-represented in our work so far.

In the meantime, we will continue to drive forward improvements across the social care sector, including improving terms and conditions for our valued workforce - making it an attractive profession and bringing even more talent into the sector.