National Care Service: Factsheet

About the National Care Service (NCS)

Information included in the factsheet is correct at the time of publishing.

The Scottish Government is working with people and organisations across the country. Our aim is to improve community health, social work and social care support in Scotland.

We want everyone to have access to consistent, high-quality services wherever they live, and whenever they need them.

That’s why we are introducing the National Care Service (NCS). We are shaping the NCS with organisations and people who have experience of accessing and delivering these services.

NCS principles

The NCS will be founded on a set of core principles.

These are to:

• embed human rights in social care and social work support
• increase equality and enable people and communities to thrive
• ensure that the NCS is an exemplar of Fair Work practices
• co-design services with people with experience of accessing and delivering them
• make sure that we recognise and value the care workforce and unpaid carers
• improve outcomes through prevention and early intervention
• continuously improve services to promote equality, non-discrimination and individual dignity provide financially sustainable care, giving security and stability to people and their carers
• make sure that the NCS communicates with people in an inclusive way

NCS services

The NCS will make collaboration and information sharing between these services easier:

• social work services provided by local authorities
• social care services provided by local authorities, the NHS, and private and third sector organisations who receive public funding through contracts or grants
• support, including breaks, for unpaid carers
• community health services

Digital, data and information sharing

The NCS, NHS, Scottish Government and Local Government will continue to improve public and workforce access to information. They will be an authoritative source for:

• information, advice and guidance about available community health, social work and social care support services
• collation, analysis and publication of data about social care provision
• public sector data about people, their needs, and their care
• guidance on good planning and delivery of care

Governance, oversight and standards

The NCS will strengthen governance, provision and quality of service across Scotland. It will do this by providing a consistent approach to:

• national and local management and governance arrangements – involving people with experience of accessing and delivering community health, social work and social care support
• oversight and delivery of national outcomes and standards
• national change and improvement programmes to improve aspects of social care
• a national support and improvement framework to make sure local areas meet standards

Rights, complaints and advocacy

The NCS will aim to make sure everyone accessing community health, social work and social care support services in Scotland knows their rights. It will also aim to make them aware that there are clear routes to upholding these rights when they are not met.

People with experience of accessing and delivering community health, social work and social care support are co-designing relevant areas. These include:

• the NCS Charter to help people understand and claim their rights
• an NCS complaints service to help people access complaints processes if their rights are not met
• enhancing independent advocacy provision for those who need help to access the support they are eligible for

Accessing the NCS

Access to the NCS will depend on how someone first realises they need support.

That might include:

• an accident, illness, disability or health condition
• preparing to leave hospital and needing help to return home
• contacting the local authority to seek help
• moving into residential care
• referral from a GP or other medical professional
• experiencing risk that requires support to reduce or avoid harm
• moving from children’s services into adult services
• engaging with children and young people’s services
• engaging with the prison systems
• moving between local authority areas
• starting to receive a disability or carer’s benefit