National Care Service - National Forum 2023: speeches

Good afternoon.

I wanted to begin by saying a massive thank you to everyone in this room, and those who have joined us online, for the energy and commitment that you have given today.  

There are more than 250 people who have joined us today!  

I know everyone is really busy and to take a full day for an event is a huge ask, especially as many of you have travelled far to join us in person today. But it is also important that we had that hybrid functionality so that people can join us online and we can hear more voices.  

What you have inputted to today will influence the future of the National Care Service and ensure it is shaped with the needs of people at its heart.  

A big thank you to our co-chairs Lorraine and Shea for guiding us all through today and for keeping us to time. That is never an easy task as often when you start those conversations round the table you can talk forever.  

Thank you to Lucy for sharing her personal account of being a young carer. I found it really inspiring to hear how you have used this personal experience to now help others. I think for many of us who have worked in the social care sector, I worked in homeless services, Women’s Aid, with people who had experienced addiction issues, people who have been in touch with the criminal justice system and I myself have been homeless, we often find we take our lived experience into the workplace with us as we gravitate towards those areas of work.   

And thank you to our panellists for their vibrant discussion. I think we can all agree that delivering community health and social care is complex but as outlined by the panel, there is so much to celebrate. I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who asked a question, whether in person or online, as these questions were valuable. Challenging questions are important as we need to make sure the development of the National Care Service is iterative, and we take on the voices of everyone.  

I am confident that by all of us working together and pooling resources we can transform the way community health and social care is delivered in Scotland.  

Over the coming months, we will continue our collaborative working with those receiving and delivering care, key partners and stakeholders, testing our thinking and reforms to make sure they are fully fit for purpose.  

Co-design will continue – engaging with people with lived and living experience does not stop today. Co-design and co-production take time if we are going to get it right.  

We will further deepen our understanding to make sure proposed reforms meet the needs of people who use and work in community health and social care.  

As highlighted today, we are working in a very different financial environment than we have done before. We are all having to reassess budgets to maximise what we can achieve with each pound spent. But sometimes transformative change can lead to savings upstream, we just have to sometimes to be bold and brave on how we do that.  

This is true right across the sector and I know we are all feeling this, particularly in the third sector and local government. Having come from both of those backgrounds I understand these pressures. However, despite budget pressures, we are still making improvements.  

We have invested in research and engagement to make sure our community health and social care system can deliver in the future. We are also raising social care workers’ wages. We’re not waiting for the NCS to arrive to deliver important improvements in social care.  

The development and introduction of the National Care Service is the biggest reform of public services since devolution. 

This is our chance to really do something innovative – to design service delivery in a way that not only puts people first, but also drives up quality and improvement right across the country. I was struck by something someone on the panel said earlier. We talk about person centred approaches all the time, and how that person can fall through the hole in the middle. Person led is a really good way to describe it, and we must deliver that.  

We are not making change for changes sake. We are doing this so the future looks brighter, so that our grandchildren and their grandchildren are properly looked after and supported.  

This kind of change is necessary to ensure our entire health and social care system supports everyone in the right way, and at the right time.   

I know the pace of change can sometimes be frustrating, especially if you are someone who is using or working in services just now, and have been championing and asking for change for a long time. I want to thank you for your patience and continued contributions whilst we develop this reform.  

As Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy I am looking forward to seeing the change and improvement we have discussed today in action.  

I want to see care for people impacted by alcohol and drugs improved through the National Care Service, with better aligned services. We heard earlier that some of the services I am responsible for can feel like a Cinderella service, I really do feel like these services need to be at the heart of the National Care Service. 

We know people can often access multiple services at once. I firmly believe the National Care Service will make it easier for people to access consistent services across Scotland, ensuring their needs are met in the right place at the right time for them.  

From the work being done in my portfolio, I know the vital role that the voice of lived and living experience can have in driving improvement. It really does make a difference. But we need to listen, we often hear about unheard voices but this is not because they are not speaking up, it is because we are not listening. We need to make sure we are listening to the voice of lived and living experience.  

Lived experience will be the constant thread weaving the National Care Service together. 

Today, you became part of the future fabric of the National Care Service.  

The NCS cannot and will not exist without your involvement and the involvement of people with lived experience. Your time today is valued and will shape the future of community health and social care in Scotland.  

Thank you again for joining us. I look forward to continuing to work with you as we move forward with the National Care Service.