National Care Service: factsheet: Easy Read version

About the National Care Service

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

We are working with people across Scotland who have used or worked in these services.

We want everyone to have access to good health care and social care support. They should have this wherever they live in Scotland.

This is why we are designing a National Care Service. This is called the NCS for short.

NCS principles

The NCS will have principles to help us to:

• make sure to include people’s rights in care support
• help people live a good life
• provide care that can be given without running out of money and helps people and their carers feel safe
• help people before their care needs rise and take action as soon as they need it
• co-design services with people who use or work in them and their carers.

Co-design means you can share your ideas and experiences with us. It means working with other people to find out how to make things better.

• improve services to make sure people are treated fairly
• make sure the NCS talks to people in a way that they can understand
• help the workforce to feel valued
• make sure the NCS follows fair work practices

NCS services

The NCS will aim to make working together and sharing information easier for services.

The NCS will also aim to:

• improve public and staff access to information
• make sure things like management, service standards, and help to make services better are the same across Scotland
• help people understand and claim their rights
• help people access complaints processes if they need them
• make independent advocacy easier to access for people who use the NCS. Independent advocacy helps people to:
  • understand their rights
  • make their voices heard
  • have a say in decisions affecting them

When people will use the NCS

There are lots of reasons you could need help from the NCS in the future.

These include all the same reasons you might need community health, social work or social care support now. Some examples are:

• an accident, disability or health condition
• moving from children’s to adult services
• engaging with the prison system or children and young people’s services