National Care Service: factsheet

About the National Care Service (NCS)

Why we are developing the NCS

We know how urgently social care needs reform. Services must be built on an understanding of people’s needs. We recognise how hard the workforce and unpaid carers strive to achieve that, but we must improve the system itself for lasting progress to be made across Scotland.

We are bringing together the changes we have already made and those still to come under the National Care Service (NCS) for social care support, social work and community health services. The Scottish Government’s aim is to deliver consistent support with better results for everyone, everywhere in the country.

Background

Our vision for the NCS has always been shaped by the views of people with experience of the current system, alongside independent expert feedback.

There are three core strands of work that have formed the basis of this vision. The recommendations and ideas we have had from these sources still guide all our work on social care reform.

The Feeley Review

In February 2021, the Feeley Review (chaired by Derek Feeley, and also known as the Independent Review of Adult Social Care) set out its recommendations for improving the social care system. We have not waited for legislation to act on these, with work already underway or completed. The Feeley Review is where the recommendation for an NCS was first made.

NCS consultation

Following the Feeley Review, in autumn 2021, we held a public consultation on social care and community health in Scotland. There were over 1,300 written responses and over 100 public engagements.

The responses supported a nation-wide change in care and support delivery. There was strong agreement that we must place human rights at the centre of our decisions to ensure equality, non-discrimination and dignity. Through the consultation process, people confirmed that they wanted an NCS, accountable to Scottish Ministers, with services designed and delivered locally.

Read a summary of the NCS consultation responses.

Co-design

From the very start, we designed the NCS with the people who will use and work in it. To help us tailor the NCS to local needs, we have been carrying out co-design and engagement work across the country with:

• people who use and deliver services
• stakeholders
• political parties
• the wider public

At the time of writing, 2,046 people have participated in co-design activities for the NCS. This work has driven key decisions around the NCS. For example, participants have helped:

• shape our approach to embedding lived experience in the NCS
• draft our Workforce Charter and Charter of Rights and Responsibilities
• inform improvements needed to complaints processes