National Care Service: questions and answers - engagement sessions

Improving Services

What will happen with Adult Support and Protection under the National Care Service?

• Adult Support and Protection (ASP) is a vital part of health, social work and social care processes. In the event of an National Care Service being created, we would need to ensure amendments are made to the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act so that adults at risk of harm can continue to be fully supported and protected within the new framework that would be created.
• ASP networks and stakeholders work closely with each other to ensure services and methodologies constantly improve, through self-evaluation; training; sharing best practice and learning, and participating in national forums and networks.

How will the National Care Service ensure that everyone gets their own choice of provider?

• The need for a person-centred approach for all those seeking care and support from the National Care Service is a core principle for our work, and choice around care and support is an extension of this.
• We expect it to be reflected in our co-design work, and this engagement will be critical to establishing, through work such as the Charter of Rights, principles across all settings that enable all those seeking care and support to choose the most appropriate care and support for them.

Where is the thinking on prevention and early intervention? Is the National Care Service purely about service delivery and do the prevention approaches sit elsewhere?

• Under the National Care Service, prevention will be prioritised to make sure that people can move smoothly between different types of care and support as their needs change.
• A process of co-design will be undertaken to explore options to promote early intervention and prevention.
• The Policy memorandum which accompanies the Bill makes it clear that strategic plan has to reflect National Care Service principles one of which is that services provided by the National Care Service are to be centred around early interventions that prevent or delay the development of care needs and reduce care needs that already exist.

There is a shortage of care and support organisations and Personal Assistants currently throughout Scotland. Is there a commitment to support the development of more care and support options for communities?

• The Scottish Government is committed to improving care and support across Scotland. The Support in the Right Direction (SiRD) Programme is delivered through partnership agreements with third sector organisations in each of the 32 Scottish local authority areas. The partnership organisations provide people and their carers with independent advocacy on social care and Self-Directed Support in their local areas.
• A new team focusing on Self-directed Support Improvement has been set up with a core focus on reviewing the current Statutory Guidance.
• The PA Programme Board was set up in 2021 to fully understand the wider issues which affect PAs including recruitment and develop a work plan which sets out the necessary objectives and outcomes to recognise PAs fully as part of the social care workforce.
• There is now collaborative work underway which will support improvements for the PA workforce.